John Carver neither offered nor was asked to step down as Newcastle's head coach as the crisis on Tyneside came to a head, according to Press Association Sport.
Carver, 50, held no-holds-barred talks with managing director Lee Charnley and senior players on Monday before the club announced that he would remain in charge for the final three games of a season which could yet end in relegation.
But, despite a run of eight successive defeats, he never offered to walk away and was not asked to as club officials desperately try to find a road to recovery.
Derby boss Steve McClaren was at the top of the list drawn up by Charnley in January as he looked to replace the departed Alan Pardew, but the former England manager indicated that he was not ready to join the Magpies despite Derby's failure to secure a place in the Championship playoffs, and the club backed Carver to continue in a lengthy statement.
Saturday's 3-0 humiliation at Leicester, during which defenders Mike Williamson and Daryl Janmaat were sent off, the former prompting a remarkable post-match reaction from Carver, left the Magpies in 15th place in the table, but just two points clear of the drop zone.
They face West Brom at St James' Park -- where thousands of fans have boycotted the last two games in protest at the way owner Mike Ashley is running the club -- on Saturday knowing only victory will ease their relegation fears, but the Daily Telegraph reports that some players have told their families to stay away from the stadium.
Newcastle fans have reacted angrily after the club chose to stand by Carver, with the Telegraph reporting that some of the club's "foreign contingent have advised their wives, girlfriends and families to stay at home."
Mark Jensen, editor of the Newcastle fans' magazine themag.co.uk, told Press Association Sport: "Just when you think things can't get any worse the club put a feeble statement out saying it's business as usual.
"I personally don't know a single Newcastle fan who thinks John Carver is the right man for the job, but if you talk about a change you have to question who in their right mind would want to walk into this total mess.
"This has been coming for a long time -- it is a carbon copy of last season when we had a few more points on the board, and the season before that we also nearly went down.
"If other clubs continue to pick up points I think we will go down. I don't think any fans have hope of getting any more points ourselves. If we stay up it will only be due to the shortcomings of others."