The managerless Magpies slipped out of the Carling Cup as holders Tottenham Hotspur won 2-1 which leaves Hughton and the remaining members of the coaching staff with a massive job to do ahead of Saturday's Barclays Premier League match with Blackburn Rovers.

Hughton said: "Irrespective of what has gone on re: the club, when you are on a run of defeats, then it does affect confidence.

some positives

"All you can do as coaches is pick the players up, look at the positives from the game - and irrespective of how disappointed we are at this particular moment, there are some positives from the game - and that's what we have got to centre our thoughts on now.

"We have a game on Saturday that I still believe we are capable of winning."

But Hughton was quick to insist a new manager would not inherit a dispirited squad. He said: "What they will find is a great bunch of players that I couldn't have asked more of. "They have gone through the difficulties of everything that has gone on, which are outside of their control, and applied themselves in the best way they can."