Now 52 years old, Steve McClaren was this week named in the job which might come to define his managerial career. A, to date, divergent route to the top of his profession, began with Jim Smith’s hitherto anonymous assistant being elevated to the same role at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Since McClaren opted to go it alone at Middlesbrough in 2001, the Yorkshireman has perhaps divided opinion concerning his abilities to a greater degree than any of his modern day contemporaries.
During his three-and-a-half year stint with Smith at Derby County, the club to which he has now returned as Number One, McClaren bore huge influence on that duo leading the Rams into the Premier League at the end of their first campaign in charge. The then aspirational and forward thinking coach continued his fine work, as Derby became an established top-flight presence while playing an enterprising brand of football. McClaren’s training ground aptitude translated into a cosmopolitan collection of players from Chris Powell and Rory Delap to Igor Stimac, Paolo Wanchope and Francesco Baiano achieving successive top-ten Premier League finishes.
By the time the second of those lofty Premier League spots was secured, McClaren was fully ensconced at Old Trafford -the all seeing eye of Ferguson having detected a special talent in Derby County’s coach, and recruiting him to replace the outgoing Brian Kidd.
Subsequent to McClaren’s January 1999 arrival in Manchester, the Red Devils remained undefeated throughout the remainder of one of the more astonishing campaigns experienced by an English football club – the treble winning year of 1998/1999 that culminated in the incredible turnaround Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich.
After two further seasons at Old Trafford, both of which finished with United as the English champions, McClaren couldn’t resist the inherent urge to make the colossal step up to management. His coaching prowess had already earned a place on the backroom staff of then England boss, Sven-Goran Eriksson and the confidence, at Manchester United, of one of the finest sets of footballers of this generation – men of the stature of Roy Keane, Jaap Stam, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Dwight Yorke.
There was an understandable clamour, therefore, – in stark contrast to latter years – for McClaren’s services when it became apparent that he was ready to sacrifice life with one of Europe’s eminent clubs to pursue a more personal goal.
The ensuing five years that McClaren spent in charge at Middlesbrough provided the first phase of a managerial pilgrimage that has been littered with contradictions. Despite steering Boro to their only major trophy – the 2004 League Cup – and, two years later, guiding the club to a European final, a large element of the Teessiders’ support never took to their rookie boss.
There was a suspicion that McClaren viewed his time at the Riverside as merely a stepping stone towards a more exalted stage. The football produced by his teams was considered more safety-first than swashbuckling, and there were reservations regarding McLaren’s appointment of sports psychologist, Bill Beswick, as his assistant. Most conspicuously, a collection of high-profile signings, some coming at exorbitant fees or commanding excessive salaries, including Mark Viduka, Massimo Maccarone, Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink, and Gaizka Mendieta were unable, with the exception of 2004/2005 when they finished 7th, to lift their side beyond mid-table inertia.
Even the League Cup triumph didn’t guard against fans agitating for McLaren’s removal early on in what proved to be his final season at the Riverside, and which ultimately ended with the run to face Sevilla in the UEFA Cup final. It was during the course of the quarter-final and semi-final ties of that competition that Boro performed entirely contrary to what was judged to be their type.
A crazy second-leg Riverside comeback from three goals behind against FC Basel preceded a replica of that same remarkable feat against Steaua Bucharest. There would be no such recovery in a one-sided final that Boro’s Spanish opponents utterly dominated on the way to a 4-0 triumph.
That match took place in Eindhoven with McClaren having already been confirmed as the beneficiary of the F.A.’s determination, in the wake of Eriksson’s near six years in charge, and Luiz Felipe Scolari’s rejection of the position, to appoint an Englishman to manage their national side.
It was a decision that stimulated widespread apathy among the country’s football public, not to mention a degree of satisfaction on Teesside – an emotion that, with the benefit of hindsight, those same discontented supporters may reconsider.
It was his 18 months at the England helm that so damaged not only McClaren’s coaching credibility, but his public perception. Such was the negative reaction to his being chosen for what remains the most prestigious job in English football, McClaren moved to appoint public relations ‘expert’ Max Clifford to ‘promote and protect’ him in the media.
That particular relationship was short-lived, and a failure to qualify for the 2008 European Championships plunged McClaren’s stock to an all-time low. A forlorn campaign included a swiftly abandoned attempt to implement a fresh playing system, – a three-at-the-back tactic leading only to a hopelessly chaotic display and dispiriting 2-0 defeat in Croatia – and the most miserable of closures.
A point at Wembley against the already qualified Croats would have sealed a place in Austria and Switzerland but, already hampered by injuries, McClaren gambled by replacing his regular goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, with Scott Carson. The then Liverpool keeper’s jittery display, on what remains his sole competitive international appearance, was instrumental in England’s harrowing defeat. (Roy Hodgson take note).
The very next day, McClaren, who had woken to the infamous derogatory ‘Wally with The Brolly’ newspaper headlines, was sacked.
Forced to look to the continent for employment, McClaren was afforded an opportunity to take charge at unfashionable Dutch outfit, FC Twente. In a country where the coach is king and players are receptive to a meticulous training ground approach, the man now deemed unemployable in his homeland flourished.
After securing a runners-up berth in his first year, McClaren went one better twelve months later. In a league traditionally dominated by the powerhouses of Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, and Feyenoord, the scale of that accomplishment cannot be overstated.
Sadly, back in England, it was. Rather than talk of a coach re-born, mention of McClaren’s name brought only negative connotations associated with his England tenure, and the ridicule inspired by a renowned press conference early in his European adventure during which the one-time Hull City player adopted a faux Dutch accent.
With McClaren, a low would inevitably follow his championship winning high. Hired by crack German outfit, Wolfsburg, on the back of his Dutch success, he never truly recovered from losing his first three league games in charge. Just 21 matches, which included only five victories, and eight months into his reign, McClaren was removed from the post.
Still, Nottingham Forest had seen enough to convince them that McClaren could restore that grand club to the Premier League. To many observers, it seemed a perfect fit. It was anything but. Eight points won in his first 10 league games, combined with his discovering a working environment far removed from that which had been advertised, caused McClaren to resign after spending only 112 days at the City Ground.
During close to 14 months back at Twente, McClaren could never recapture the magic of his initial stewardship and that relationship came to a halt in February this year.
Prior to his arrival at Pride Park this week, and what feels like a personal last-chance saloon, McClaren was receiving plaudits for his coaching work at Queens Park Rangers. It should be noted that Harry Redknapp is not wont to enlist deficient coaches to his staff.
Upon news of McClaren’s likely departure from the R’s, that team’s midfielder, Joey Barton, the sternest of critics, gave Derby’s new boss a glowing reference.
‘I’ve always thought he’s been one of the best English coaches out there and he gets an unfair media because of his England tenure.
‘I think he would be a great benefit for any club. He’s certainly a very good coach, very organised, puts on great sessions. He’s a great fellow and the perfect sort of guy for that (Derby County) job’.
McClaren will not be unnerved by a predictably mixed reaction among County followers to his unveiling. He succeeds a popular man in Nigel Clough. In truth, however, the time was right for both Clough and club to split.
The former boss had appeared wearied by over four-and-a-half years working a markedly tough assignment. For the Rams’ part, the portents were already in place for a third consecutive term in which a bright start would fizzle into a season of mediocrity.
Whether or not the man now in situ at Pride Park is the one who can spark a much needed upturn of fortunes for his new employers nobody can confidently predict. The McClaren riddle is best described by the man himself;
‘Yes, I can coach and I can manage. I have proved I can be successful, and proved I can also fail.
‘It was important for me to come back to England. I had opportunities and I could have stayed abroad.
‘I feel my reputation is better abroad in Europe than it is in England. So I wanted to come back’.
His wheel has turned full-circle, and 18 years after this captivating adventure began we still don’t know what to make of Steve McClaren. Derby County fans will be anxiously longing to see the version they remember cajoling and encouraging a Premier League team, alongside Jim Smith, on the Pride Park touchline.
The rest of us can watch on with some fascination, as a man who counts Manchester United and the F.A. among his previous bosses, seeks to answer one of English football’s enduring questions.
Is Steve McClaren any good?
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