From secret board meetings to a PR specialist in crisis management - how Newcastle replaced Steve McClaren with Rafa Benitez. Cheap Nike Shox Retro ... With Newcastle facing relegation and the home crowd calling for McClaren to be dismissed after Saturdays 3-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth, the club have acted.Here, Sky Sports News HQ reporter Keith Downie lifts the lid on developments at the club over the past week which led to the former England boss being sacked and Newcastle appointing a man who was managing Real Madrid earlier this season… Five games which cost McClaren We look at five games which cost Steve McClaren his job Steve McClaren had been under pressure at Newcastle for some time and on Thursday night last week a source outside of the club told me he could potentially lose his job if Newcastle lost to Bournemouth at St James Park on Saturday.However, on the morning of the match, another source, from within the club, said that no matter the result against Bournemouth, hed keep his job. So there was conflicting information going into the game.More than the 3-1 defeat, though, it was perhaps the reaction of the fans which heightened the speculation around McClarens future. Half of the crowd were singing Steve McClaren, youre taking us down, and the other half were singing Youre getting sacked in the morning. Newcastle fans vented their anger at McClaren during the defeat to Bournemouth Interestingly, Keith Bishop was at the game. Hes owner Mike Ashleys PR man - a specialist in crisis management - and would have spoken with members of the board and fed that back to Ashley. Its not unusual to see Bishop around the club - but he is a more frequent visitor when there are problems to deal with.After the game, I was the first to interview McClaren. Stood there in the tunnel, he told me he absolutely would not walk away. I asked him whether he thought hed be in charge for the Leicester game on Monday Night Football on March 14, and he just said he hoped so. At that stage, he knew he was under pressure.Sunday was a day off for everyone at the club, and there were no developments. Previously, when Alan Pardew or John Carver were under pressure, Newcastle have issued statements or made press briefings indicating their support of the manager. There was no announcement made by the club in the wake of the Bournemouth game. McClaren says the negative chanting from the Newcastle fans in their 3-1 loss at home to Bournemouth was justified On Monday, there was a board meeting, attended by three of the four board members. The missing person was McClaren, who didnt even know the meeting was taking place.When McClaren was appointed Newcastle manager last summer, he became the first Premier League manager to be given a place on a clubs board. However, the first he knew about Mondays meeting would have been when he read the papers or turned on his TV.The meeting took place near York, with managing director Lee Charnley, the main decision maker at the club, joined by chief scout Graham Carr and club legend Bob Moncur. Its believed they discussed a number of managerial options, with Rafa Benitez and David Moyes the most high profile. McClaren continued to take training this week Injured players were the only ones at the club on Monday - the first-team and McClaren himself returned on Tuesday for training. The manager still hadnt heard anything about his future when he left at 4pm and headed straight for home.McClaren remained in the dark on Tuesday night and returned to the training ground at 8am on Wednesday morning. It was then that he was invited to a meeting with Charnley. That was the first time hed heard from the managing director since Saturdays defeat.However, McClaren left the training ground at 4pm and went straight home. Charnley had asked him to meet him at the stadium but McClaren refused. Instead, they had a quick chat over the phone. McClaren arrived for work as usual throughout the week On Thursday, McClaren came back in to take training and we later interviewed stand-in skipper Jonjo Shelvey, who said the players had let the manager down. Once again, McClaren left the training ground having not heard anything about his future at the club.It seems that on Thursday evening, the deal with Benitez was agreed in principle. Newcastle had been speaking with two English intermediaries about Benitez taking over from McClaren.Charnley phoned McClaren on Thursday evening, asking him to come to the club on Friday - his day off. McClaren told him that if he was only coming in to be sacked, hed rather do it over the phone and not mess around. Rafael Benitez arrives at the Newcastle training ground McClaren would have known he was at risk, given all the speculation around Benitez, and at 10.30am on Friday he received a call from Charnley telling him he had been sacked.Charnley had wanted the deal with Benitez to be all-but complete by the time he sacked McClaren and, at 2pm, Benitez arrived at St James Park to sign his contract. It was the first time Benitez had met Charnley face-to-face and, half an hour later he had become Newcastle manager. Benitez with Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley Nike Shox Australia Online . Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas appeared to be on track to gain election from the Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday, and Craig Biggio could join them. 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"Any time we can rest our older guys -- its no secret were old, so we look at this as a win in a couple of ways," Plumlee said. "We can rest them and keep them fresh, and going into All-Star break thats good." Mirza Teletovic had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets, who improved to 13-5 overall and 9-2 at home in 2014. Alan Anderson scored 13 points in the Nets first victory in their NBA history with no starters in double figures, according to information provided to them by Elias. Anthony Davis had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Pelicans, who had won seven of 10. They used big fourth-quarter comebacks to win their previous two games, but fell too far behind to come back in this one. "First four or five possessions we just didnt run our offence with any kind of zeal the way that weve been running it at home," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. The Nets jumped to an 11-0 lead while the Pelicans were missing their first seven shots. Brooklyn shot 65 per cent to New Orleans 25 per cent in the period, opening a 29-14 lead on Plumlees dunk with 40 seconds remaining. He kept playing above the rim in the second, soaring to catch Jason Terrys alley-oop pass with his right hand and slam it down on a fast break -- Terrys 5,000th career assist -- and later slamming home the miss of Terrys 3-point attempt to make it 42-21 with 5:02 to go. Terry, a former Sixth Man of the Year winner, said the reserves were disappointed in their performance the last twoo games. Nike Shox Clearance Australia. "Our job as a bench is to come out and make an impact on the game, and we did that tonight and J-Kidd rewarded us with lengthy playing time," Terry said, referring to coach Jason Kidd. "So felt good, we got the win and we must continue to get better as a unit." The Pelicans were on an embarrassing pace of a barely a point per minute for most of the half, trailing 48-21 more than 20 minutes in, and the Nets led 51-28 at the break. New Orleans briefly trimmed it to single digits during a 32-point third quarter, but the Nets quickly finished them off early in the fourth, again with Plumlee and the reserves on the floor. The Pelicans, who were playing the first of three straight on the road while the NBA readies their arena to host next weekends All-Star festivities, had easily their worst first half of the season and shot just 56 per cent from the foul line for the game. "We just didnt play (well) tonight," Davis said. "We know it. Coaches know it. Everybody knows it." Tyreke Evans, the former Rookie of the Year who the Pelicans signed during the off-season, didnt play. Williams called it an "internal" issue. Brooklyn improved to 9-9 against Western Conference teams, joining Indiana and Miami as only East teams with a .500 or better mark against the stronger side. The Nets host Charlotte on Wednesday, then play seven straight on the road and arent back at Barclays Center until March 3. 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