McKinna has been bombarded with CVs and applications from coaches and agents following head coach Scott Miller and assistant Luciano Trani’s dismissals in midweek.

The Jets are under pressure to secure a new coach given the new A-League season is less than a month away.

McKinna has spent most of the week dealing with media and managing the club’s public image in light of the shock events, with widespread speculation about the reason behind the sackings.

“I’ve not spoken to any coaches, I’m just getting bombarded with media enquiries, agents and CVs, so I’ll compile a list tomorrow,” McKinna told FourFourTwo.

“I’ll come up with a shortlist on Monday. I’ll start contacting a few coaches then.”

Youth team coach Clayton Zane is in interim charge and will lead the side in Sunday’s friendly against Edgeworth.

The Jets are due to face Melbourne City in a friendly in Ballarat the following Sunday, before a clash with Western Sydney Wanderers in Cessnock on Saturday 24 September.

“If I came out and said somebody would be in place for the game next weekend (against Melbourne City) that would be unrealistic,” McKinna said.

“I’d hope we’d be down to the final couple next weekend and hopefully the week after we’ll be able to appoint a new coach and assistant.”

McKinna said embracing the Newcastle culture would be a key criteria as he forms his shortlist, but said being local or a senior experienced coach wasn’t compulsory despite the tight turnaround.

“People who know Newcastle know you have to engage in it, so you don’t have to be a local to do that,” McKinna said.

“But people must respect the Newcastle football culture and respect what happens in the local game here.

“They need to engage in the community. It’s not a big list of things to tick the boxes, but we must get the basic things right this time.”

He added: “I know a lot of the people who’ve sent CVs.

“I’ve worked with them, I’ve coached against them, they’re people I’d class as mates.”

Among them is former Newcastle assistant coach Mark Jones, who was born in the region and played for local clubs in the NSL.

Jones flagged his interest in the role in the Newcastle Herald despite being appointed Adelaide United’s W-League coach earlier in the week, prior to Miller’s sacking being made public.

“He sent through his CV on Thursday,” McKinna said. “Obviously Mark has been about Newcastle a lot of years as have a lot of other coaches as well.”

McKinna said he wasn’t precisely sure how many coaching applications he’d received this week, despite reports of approximately 60 submissions.

He revealed that he’d received a phonecall from Mariners CEO Shaun Mielekamp on Thursday who jokingly said ‘I can give you the 62 CVs we got the week before’.