Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has revealed that he has never felt his job under threat at St James' Park.

The Magpies have struggled in the bottom half of the Premier League table this season and they currently lie just six points above the relegation zone.

Newcastle have recorded back-to-back victories against Aston Villa and Chelsea to ease the pressure on Pardew, but the Newcastle boss has insisted that he was never given any indication that he may be sacked as the club's manager.

Pardew told reporters: "It's rare in football to have the position that even with the results I've had, the message from upstairs was that I was going to be retained as manager.

"Perhaps our fans weren't quite as happy about that at the time, but I have to try and reward the club for the backing the gave me now. So far, we've got two great results and we have to build on that.

"We haven't been good enough and we've been saying that. Now we think we have got a team that's good enough and we have to back it up with results."

Pardew has been manager of Newcastle since 2010.