McClaren dismisses dressing room rift

Newcastle manager Steve McClaren has dismissed reports of a rift in his team’s dressing room.

The former England boss thinks rumours of dressing room unrest have come as a result of the poor run of form, which has seen the Magpies off to a poor start to their Barclays Premier League campaign.

A bad start to the season has given pundits and fans alike enough ammunition to criticize the team and in particular the manager.

McClaren in the meantime stated that at the same time, the club need to be focused on getting back to winning games, which he is confident the team will do.

McClaren’s men, who host Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup on Wednesday, are winless in six Premier League games this season.

The Englishman’s dressing room has been questioned, with suggestions injured Ivory Coast star Cheick Tiote was causing problems.

McClaren denied that was the case, defending Tiote and Senegalese striker Papiss Cisse.

“There’s been no problem with Cheick. He’s not a bad egg at all,” he said.

“I know Cheick well, I obviously had him at Twente and he’s no trouble. He doesn’t cause trouble, he just wants to play.

“Papiss is Papiss, and he goes around with a smile on his face. That’s the culture that he’s got.

“We haven’t seen enough of Cheick. He hasn’t been right. He hasn’t been able to build up his fitness, but I know Cheick well and I couldn’t be any stronger in terms of saying that he’s not any trouble.

“He’s no bad egg – he just wants to play football. But he’s not been able to do that, so he’s frustrated. He’s definitely not been feigning injury.”

After their poor start to the season, McClaren is likely to need to strengthen his squad when the transfer window opens in January.

The 54-year-old said he was yet to even begin thinking about 2016.

“We can’t do anything at the moment, so the pure focus is on getting this team performing and getting results,” McClaren said.

“You mention January, but I’m not even thinking about that window, because we’ve got too many games in between.”