Steve McClaren

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Steve McClaren
Personal information
Full name	Stephen McClaren
Date of birth	3 May 1961 (1961-05-03) (age 47)
Place of birth	Fulford, York, England
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1979–1985 1985–1988 1987 1988–1989 1989–1992	Hull City Derby County → Lincoln City (loan) Bristol City Oxford United Total	178 (16) 025 0(0) 008 0(0) 061 0(2) 033 0(0) 305 (18)
Teams managed
2001–2006 2006–2007	Middlesbrough England
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen "Steve" McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He managed the Premier League side Middlesbrough with whom he won the League Cup in 2004 and finished runners-up in the UEFA Cup in 2006. He was also Assistant Manager to Alex Ferguson when Manchester United won the Treble in 1999.

McClaren is most widely known for his stint as manager of England between 1 August 2006^[1] and 22 November 2007, when he was sacked after England failed to qualify for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship.^[2][3] McClaren was heavily vilified by the media in a similar personal manner as leveled at former manager Graham Taylor^[4], the last England manager to fail to qualify for a major tournament (the 1994 FIFA World Cup), being dubbed 'The Wally with a Brolly,^[5][6] after his use of an umbrella to protect himself from rain during his final game in charge.

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Playing career 3 Managerial career 3.1 Coaching career 3.2 Middlesbrough 3.3 England 3.4 After England 3.5 Managerial stats 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Personal life

McClaren was born in Fulford, York,^[7] the son of Margaret (Bogg) and Brian McClaren.^[8] He is married to Kathryn.^[9]

As a child, McClaren attended Nunthorpe Grammar School after passing his 11-plus examinations.^[10] At school he played football, rugby, tennis and squash and was captain of the school's football team. He also played for York Boys under-15 team and represented the county of Yorkshire.^[10]

[edit] Playing career

As a player, McClaren was a midfielder who spent most of his career in the lower leagues of English football. The bulk of his playing career was with Hull City, who he joined in 1979 at the age of 18 after leaving school. He later played for Derby County, Lincoln City (on loan), Bristol City and Oxford United before an injury forced him to retire in 1992.^[11]

[edit] Managerial career

[edit] Coaching career

Shortly after hanging up his boots, he began his coaching career as reserve team coach at Oxford United, where Denis Smith was manager.^[11] In 1995, he became first-team coach, and later joined Jim Smith at Derby County, where he was his assistant manager.^[12] In December 1998, he accepted the opportunity to become assistant manager under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, replacing Brian Kidd. At the time he was so unknown he was introduced by United chairman Martin Edwards as "Steve McClaridge".^[13] His first half-season was distinguished by United not losing any games, taking the Treble in the process. He developed the reputation as one of the most tactically astute coaches in the country,^[14] using modern methods such as video analysis and sports psychologists.^[13]

In October 2000 McClaren was made a coach in the England national team by caretaker-manager Peter Taylor.^[15] He retained the position under permanent manager Sven-Göran Eriksson until November 2002.^[16] However, he returned to assist Eriksson shortly before Euro 2004 as Brian Kidd had undergone surgery for prostate cancer.^[17] He remained in the role up to and include the 2006 World Cup finals.

[edit] Middlesbrough

In the summer of 2001 McClaren was appointed manager of Middlesbrough by club chairman Steve Gibson.^[18] In his first season he guided Middlesbrough to an FA Cup semi-final which was lost to Arsenal. Two years afterwards McClaren guided Boro to victory in the League Cup with a 2–1 victory over Bolton Wanderers in the final. This victory was the club's first ever major honour and also guaranteed them qualification for a European competition for the first time in their history.

In the 2004–05 season McClaren took Middlesbrough to finish 7^th in the Premier League, a record finish for the club which guaranteed them another place in the UEFA Cup for a second season. Despite poor league form in the 2005–06 season, which saw Boro finish 14^th, he guided the club to successful runs in the FA and UEFA Cups. They reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup again, but lost 0–1 to West Ham United whilst also reaching the final of the UEFA Cup, resulting in 0–4 loss to Spanish side Sevilla FC.^[11] This was McClaren's last game in charge of the club.

[edit] England

In early 2006, Eriksson announced that he would be quitting as manager of the England team, after the 2006 World Cup, and McClaren was placed on the Football Association's shortlist alongside Luiz Felipe Scolari, Martin O'Neill, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley.^[19] For a time it looked like Scolari would become England's new manager but he lost interest in the job due to media intrusion. McClaren was subsequently named as Eriksson's successor in May 2006. McClaren's appointment was praised by the likes of Alan Hansen,^[20] Sir Alex Ferguson (both Scotsmen) and Sir Trevor Brooking.^[21] McClaren took over the job on 1 August 2006 with a four-year contract,^[22] with former England coach Terry Venables as his assistant.

McClarens first decision was to choose the new England captain. He decided to give the arm band to John Terry, the Chelsea defender and captain who at the time had 24 England caps, saying "I'm convinced he will prove to be one of the best captains England has ever had."^[23] In his first squad, McClaren dropped many of the national team's older players including Sol Campbell, David James and former captain David Beckham, saying he was planning for "a different direction."^[24] However, McClaren stated that there was still a chance that Beckham could be recalled in the future.^[25] McClaren was blessed with a relatively weak European Championship qualifying group from which to qualify, which with the possible exception of Croatia, was a group England were expected to win outright. After initially starting well with three wins, England hit a poor run of form between October 2006 and March 2007 with only one goal scored in five matches. During a European qualifier match against minnows Andorra in March 2007, McClaren and the England team received abuse from supporters during a poor performance in a 3-0 win. McClaren walked out of the post-match press conference following the Andorra game after only two minutes of questions, saying, "Gentlemen, if you want to write whatever you want to write, you can write it because that is all I am going to say. Thank you."^[26] England had fallen to fourth in their qualification group.

In May 2007, McClaren made a u-turn by recalling Beckham into the England squad. England subsequently had a run of four wins from six matches, which boosted the country's hopes of qualification for Euro 2008 before a defeat against Russia in October 2007, causing England's qualification fate to fall out of their hands. The FA's chief executive, Brian Barwick, gave his backing to McClaren, despite the defeat.^[27] McClaren was also backed by players Phil Neville and Steven Gerrard, his predecessor Eriksson,^[28] and the chief executive of the League Managers Association John Barnwell.^[29]

The results of other matches in England's qualification group meant that England would qualify if undefeated in their final group match against Croatia. The match was played at Wembley on 21 November 2007 and England lost 3-2; coupled with Russia's victory over Andorra, this meant that England would not be at Euro 2008. It was the first time in 14 years that England had not qualified for a major tournament, and the first time in 24 years that they had not qualified for the European Championships.

The following day, the FA held an emergency meeting at which McClaren was removed from the post of England coach along with his assistant manager Terry Venables. McClaren's tenure was the shortest of any England manager to date, spanning just 18 games in 16 months. On 14 December 2007, it was announced his post had been taken up by Fabio Capello commencing from 7 January 2008.

[edit] After England

McClaren announced in February 2008 he would consider managing in either the Championship or abroad in his next job.^[30] In May 2008, McClaren had a brief spell coaching League Two side Darlington, assisting his former Oxford United team-mate Dave Penney.^[31]

In April 2008, the BBC announced McClaren would join them as a pundit for Euro 2008, working as analyst and co-commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live, alongside Alan Green, one of his harshest critics as England manager. The decision to employ McClaren as an 'expert analyst' has met with much criticism,^[32][33] notably from former BBC pundit Ian Wright.^[34] McClaren's first commentary game will be Austria v Croatia on 8 June 2008, Croatia having been the team chiefly responsible for England's non-qualification for the tournament, having beaten England twice in qualifying.^[35]

In May 2008, McClaren was linked with a return to football as manager of the Dutch side FC Twente. ^[36] He was in the crowd for a match against Ajax on 18 May 2008, seeing Twente qualify for the UEFA Champions League.^[37] In response to speculation, a Twente spokesman stated the club had 'no intention' of hiring McClaren in an interview with Sky Sports on 19 May 2008.^[38] However, on 30 May 2008, it was reported McClaren had held talks with Twente Chairman Joop Munsterman and had toured the club, despite opposition from Twente fans to his possible appointment. ^[39][40]

[edit] Managerial stats

^[41]

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Middlesbrough		12 June 2001	11 May 2006	250	97	93	60	38.80
England		1 August 2006	22 November 2007	18	9	5	4	50.00

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Steve McClaren management career stats at Soccerbase
• Official profile on TheFA.com
• Football Fans' Articles about Steve McClaren and England National Football Team
• Is this the poor man's Eriksson? Phil McNulty BBC Sport
• The Wally With The Brolly

Sporting positions
Preceded by Brian Kidd	Manchester United F.C. assistant manager 1998–2001	Succeeded by Carlos Queiroz

v • d • e Middlesbrough F.C. – Managers J.Robson (1899–1905) • Mackie (1905–06) • Aitken (1906–09) • Gunter (1909–10) • Walker (1910–11) • McIntosh (secretary) (1911–19) • Howie (1920–23) • Bamlett (1923–26) • McWilliam (1927–34) • Gillow (1934–44) • Jack (1944–52) • Rowley (1952–54) • Dennison (1954–63) • Carter (1963–66) • Anderson (1966–73) • Charlton (1973–77) • Neal (1977–81) • Murdoch (1981–82) • Allison (1982–84) • Maddren (1984–86) • Rioch (1986–90) • Todd (1990–91) • Lawrence (1991–94) • B.Robson (1994–2001) • Venables (2000–2001) • McClaren (2001–06) • Southgate (2006–)

v • d • e England national football team – Managers Winterbottom (1946–62) • Ramsey (1963–74) • Mercer (caretaker) (1974) • Revie (1974–77) • Greenwood (1977–82) • Robson (1982–90) • G. Taylor (1990–93) • Venables (1994–96) • Hoddle (1996–99) • Keegan (1999–2000) • Wilkinson (caretaker) (2000) • P. Taylor (caretaker) (2000) • Eriksson (2001–06) • McClaren (2006–07) • Capello (2008–)