STEVE McCLAREN has directed a swipe at former Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew after Fabricio Coloccini decided to extend his stay at St James’ Park.

McClaren is excited to start a new era on Tyneside this Sunday when he hopes the Magpies can start a first Premier League season under his watch with a victory.

But he was keen to keep Coloccini at the club and, after the player agreed a contract extension until 2017, the South American will keep the captain’s armband under the new head coach.

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It had looked as if the 33-year-old would be on his way to Crystal Palace, with sources close to Newcastle claiming Pardew had earmarked the Argentine to boost the Eagles’ defensive options.

And McClaren, without naming names, appeared to rubbish Pardew’s claims yesterday that he had “no interest in Fabricio Coloccini”.

The Newcastle head coach said: “He’s been captain here for seven years and there has been speculation. People have denied it, but it’s a fact. Don’t deny it, it’s a fact. That’s affected Colo in terms of somebody being out there offering him a three-year contract.

“It was a distraction. So we went along with it and we had to make a decision and I asked a lot of people and the senior players and to a man everybody wanted Colo in the team.

“They respect him as a player as a man and as a captain and from then on it was quite simple just to sit down and go ‘you know what, we want you’.

“From day one, he said to me that he wanted to finish his career at Newcastle but there were three or four opportunities that he had. As always in these decisions, we had to make a statement and the club has done that. Colo is back on board.”

McClaren claimed he was not angry about the events over the last few weeks involving Coloccini, but he was keen to draw a line under the situation.

He knows all about the divide which has existed between the boardroom and the Newcastle supporters, but is keen for everyone to make a fresh start. He is not, though expecting any favours as the new man at the helm.

“I think there’ll be a huge sigh of relief on Sunday that finally we’re kicking the new season off. It’s a new head coach, a new staff, some new players and new hope. There’ll be 20 teams in the Premier League in the same frame of mind,” he said.

“We want it to be different and it needs to be. The messages from the club over the past few weeks have been very clear and a statement of intent, following up from the owner’s words, with three very good signings and maybe - maybe - more on the way.

“But I think it’s been a certain statement by the club and we’ve got to make that statement on the field now. That’s what we want to do. It’s going to be different, a different style, different football and everybody has got to be able to adapt and cope with that. Every season is a fresh start but for Newcastle United it’s a welcome one and I’m the guy, the head coach in the seat, who has to take it forward.”

When he was handed the reins at Middlesbrough back in 2001 he lost his first four matches in charge and yet went on to be the most successful manager in the club’s history courtesy of a Carling Cup success and a UEFA Cup final place.

McClaren said: “The pressure is on me from the outset, without a shadow of a doubt. As a head coach, you have a lot of exams and we’re judged on those exams, rightly or wrongly.

“We’re criticised, rightly or wrongly, about performance and this and that and, yeah, for everybody, it’s about results. What I’m looking for is to build on that, get a good performance of what we want and what the fans want and then generally you’ll get the result.

“But a honeymoon? I don’t believe in these honeymoon periods at all. Once it starts and whatever happens on Sunday, at least we’ll have evidence of something on Monday morning and people will be writing exactly what they want to write. That’s football.”

McClaren, who completed the signing of Northampton teenager Ivan Toney yesterday, has seen signs of progress already.

He said: “I know it’ll take time, I think everybody does, but in the real world of football and the Premier League, you’re judged every game. We accept what comes our way, but we know that we’re not where we want to be. Nowhere near. But we have to progress to that.

“I spoke to Gini Wijnaldum and he’s been here a couple of weeks and was saying that the kind of progress the team has made has been very good, which it has, in terms of what we want and our style, which is different.

“He said we’ve got to understand that we’ll make mistakes and mistakes might cost us. It won’t always be like this but we’ve got find, during these times, ways to win. That’s the key - winning in the short term and planning for the long.”