When Mark Hughes resigned from Fulham, it seemed a foregone conclusion that he would make the switch to the Midlands and become the new man at the helm of Aston Villa. As things have turned out, it has not been as cut and dry as originally thought, and the decision to quit Fulham is now looking like a strange one from the Welshman.
It was another candidate for the Villa job however that I felt particularly sorry for in all of this. Whilst bookies now list a whole host of different candidates as favourite, it is a former international manager that I felt was sorely overlooked.
Steve McClaren is the butt of far too many jokes in this country because of his illfated England career, and in particular that night at Wembley with the umbrella against Croatia. If you remove that spell in charge of the national team however, his credentials are impressive. During his time at Old Trafford as Sir Alex Ferguson’s right hand man, he built a reputation for being one of the most knowledgable and astute coaches in the league, he embraced new technologies and he helped the side to 3 Premier League titles, 1 FA Cup and the Champions League. Clearly most of the recognition for those achievments should go to the players and Sir Alex, but it would be wrong to dismiss McClaren’s input.
His time at Middlesbrough was also successful, in his first season he guided the team to the FA Cup Semi Final, beating his old employers enroute and in the 03-04 season he won the League Cup with the North East team, bringing them their first major honours as well as guaranteeing their first ever foray into European competition. After taking them to the clubs highest position since 1975 of 7th during the following season, they again qualified for the UEFA cup, and in spectacular and memorable fashion they reached the final where they went on to get hammered by Sevilla.
These achievments are put into perspective when you consider the club is now languishing in the middle of the Championship, what McClaren did with Boro was very impressive and it was with no surprise that he was considered for the England job.
Clearly his time in charge of the national team was poor, from day one he was slightly undermined by the fact that we all knew he was 2nd choice for the position behind Scolari, it soon became obvious that it was a step too soon in terms of management.
His return to domestic football however was again impressive, he made the brave decision to coach abroad, taking the job at Twente in Holland with whom he finished 2nd in his first season, and league champions in his second. Once again proving himself to be a gifted manager, and perhaps one that should be considered for more jobs. The shine was perhaps slightly dulled by an unsuccessful half season with Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, but that shouldn’t take away from his obvious achievments for other clubs in domestic competition.
As soon as his name was linked with Villa, I thought it would be a brave decision if Randy Lerner was to appoint him. Rumours abound that talks were successful and that he had a great chance of landing the job, but then everything changed. It has been mooted in some corners that the reason the deal fell through was because of fan pressure, because Villa fans still see the former Boro boss as “The Wally With The Brolly”, and that is worrying.
Missing out on Euro 2008 was clearly a massive blow to English football, but surely with his other achievments he should be given another chance. I am sure that Mr Lerner will make a good choice for their next manager, but unless they pick someone really special I can’t help but feel that whoever it is won’t be as talented as McClaren.
News over the weekend however about the former England manager getting the Nottingham Forest job is clearly good, hopefully in the Championship he can begin to prove himself again. I still think, however that he shouldn’t have to prove himself, it was a brave decision from the Forest board, I just think it was a shame that the hierarchy at Villa Park couldn’t be as brave because I think they have missed out on a top manager.
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