Rooted to the foot of the table, they are five points adrift of safety already.
As a result, McClaren claims it is impossible to aim for anything other than Premier League survival.
“At the present moment, being in the top eight is miles away,” said the Newcastle head coach, whose only success in charge of the Magpies came in a Capital One Cup second-round tie with Northampton.
“When I was at Boro, I remember having conversations with Harry (coach Steve Harrison), and he used to have a massive party whenever he got to 40 points.
“Whether that was in November, March, April, whenever – he’d say, ‘Right, we’re having a party now’. It’s all about getting to that 40-point mark - then you can think about other things.
“Especially this year (with the new TV deal), that has to be the absolute priority. That’s the focus. If someone said to me now, ‘You’ll have 40 points by mid-April’, I’d take it.
“That’s just the perspective of where we are. I think people would think I’d gone absolutely daft and crazy if I was sitting here now saying we’d turn that down.”