Alan Pardew has acknowledged he faces a difficult task winning over the Newcastle fans as he was unveiled as manager.
Pardew has signed a five-and-a-half-year deal with the Barclays Premier League team, following the departure of Chris Hughton earlier in the week.
Hughton left the Magpies 12th in the table and Pardew told a press conference: "I'm privileged to be sitting here and looking forward to a tough job.
"But it's difficult because it's fairly obvious the players and fans had tremendous respect for Chris and the fact he's gone has caused something of a stir."
Pardew is yet to meet the players - he has had a brief telephone conversation with captain Kevin Nolan and will address the squad for the first time on Friday, and he will then start the process of assessing the resources at his disposal.
But he is confident that the men he inherited from Hughton are good enough to preserve the club's top-flight status based on the foundation of the 19 points they have collected from the first 16 games.
He said: "I do think there is enough and we have got to make sure the impact of this mid-season situation with the manager changing isn't an adverse impact.
"I am very much aware that the only faith I am going to gain is by keeping this club in the Premier League where it belongs.
"I have had a lot of texts from managers saying, 'You must be mad going in there, it's such a tough agenda and the history of the ownership with managers'.
"It is a massive club, it is a huge, huge club - it is one of the top five clubs in the country, I would suggest.
"I would never be able to live with myself if I didn't take that challenge on and try to get the best possible contract I could for myself, the longevity of it, to try to give me the strength when difficult times come to try to get through them so I can grow this team and grow this club."
