Newcastle United midfielder Jack Colback has confessed that he did not think that he would not be fighting a battle against relegation when he moved to the club.

The 25-year-old signed for the Magpies last summer on a free transfer from bitter rivals Sunderland, and had a solid first season with the Tynesiders despite their struggles.

Colback has admitted that he did not think the club would be embroiled in battle to avoid the drop as they escaped on the final day of the campaign, and is now hopeful that they can push on next season.

He told The Chronicle: "It was a whirlwind first season for me. To be honest, I thought I was moving away from relegation battles when I signed here. It is what it is, and that's the thing about football, it's so unpredictable. You can only control so much in football.

"It's been an up and down season. It started okay, then we had some fantastic results beating the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool.

"I got to experience what the fans can be like here, but then obviously the second half of the season was a massive low. You learn from these situations, and hopefully get stronger from it. You just hope that things like that don't happen again."

Newcastle are reportedly close to hiring Steve McClaren as their new manager to replace John Carver.