What people fail to realize, is that McDonnell had nothing to gain by making up stuff before the game. Because every man and his dog could see that if we managed to beat Newcastle, it could blow up in his face. But he stuck his neck out and said Jose would be sacked "irrespective of the result". Absolutely suicidal to his rep if he was making it up.
I believe his source was legit, but the win and the show of support forced a stay of execution, in much the same way a 0-0 result against an out of form Chelsea in January 2016 kept LvG in a job as it looked like "We had turned a corner".
Ed is keen to stretch this as long as possible to avoid a midseason change. But afraid of the backlash from the likes of Gary Neville as well, strange though it may be for a CEO. That's literally the only reason Jose's in charge.