Steve McClaren’s announcement as Newcastle United’s next head coach is imminent, in a move which is sure to split opinion amongst the Newcastle faithful.
Here, we take a look at the coaching career of the former Middlesbrough, England and Derby boss.
1995 – 1999: Derby County, assistant manager
After retiring as a player with Oxford United in 1992, McClaren went on to be the club’s assistant until 1995 where he moved to Derby County, becoming assistant to Jim Smith.
The pair guided Derby to promotion to the Premier League in their first season, before comfortably consolidating the club in the top flight.
1999 – 2001: Manchester United, assistant manager
In 1999, McClaren replaced Brian Kidd as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United. In his first half-season at Manchester United, the Red Devils won the treble. He quickly developed a reputation as one of the most innovative coaches in the country, with tactically astute training methods including video analysis and sports psychology.
Manchester United went on to win further league titles in 2000 and 2001, meaning that they won every title contested during McClaren’s time at the club.
2000 – 2006: England, coach
In October 2000, McClaren joined the England national team coaching staff with caretaker boss Peter Taylor. He retained the position under Sven-Göran Eriksson until 2002. He returned to assist Eriksson as assistant prior to the Euro 2004 finals, and continued in the role up to and including the 2006 World Cup finals.
2001 – 2006: Middlesbrough, manager
At the end of the 2000/01 season, McClaren looked into the possibility of taking over a club as permanent manager. Middlesbrough won the race to hire McClaren after job offers from Southampton and West Ham United were turned down.
In 2003/04, McClaren guided Middlesbrough to winning the League Cup after a 2-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers, and the subsequent UEFA Cup campaign next season saw them reach the round of 16, before losing to Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon. The club finished 7th in 2004/05, their highest finish since 1975.
In 2005/06, Middlesbrough reached the UEFA Cup final under McClaren, despite mediocre league form, after two spectacular four goal comebacks in both the quarter and semi-finals. They ultimately lost the final 4-0 to Sevilla.
McClaren was criticised for producing “dull” football at Middlesbrough at the latter end of his time on Teesside, and left the club in 2006.
2006 – 2007: England, manager
McClaren took over the England’s manager position after the departure of Eriksson. However, his time in charge at England was a disaster. Under McClaren, England failed to reach the Euro 2008 finals for the first time in 24 years, and he was removed from his position soon after the 3-2 loss to Croatia.
2008 – 2010: FC Twente, manager
In June 2008, McClaren was confirmed as the new manager of Dutch club FC Twente. In his first season, Twente finished 2nd in the Eredivisie, were runners-up in the Dutch Cup, and advanced from the group stages of the UEFA Cup for the first time in 30 years.
In 2010, FC Twente won the Eredivisie title. McClaren became the first English manager to win a top-level domestic league title outside of Britain since Sir Bobby Robson
2010: VfL Wolfsburg, manager
After success with FC Twente, McClaren was appointed as the manager of German side Wolfsburg. However, after only winning 5 of his 21 games in charge, he was sacked in February 2011.
2011: Nottingham Forest, manager
McClaren succeeded Billy Davies as Nottingham Forest manager in June 2011, but after winning only 8 points from his first 10 games in charge, McClaren resigned.
2012 – 2013: FC Twente, manager
McClaren returned to FC Twente for the second time in January 2012, and guided the club to a sixth-placed finish. He invested significantly in the squad in the summer of 2012, but poor results saw McClaren eventually step down as manager in February 2013.
2013 – 2015: Derby County, manager
In 2013, Steve McClaren signed a short-term deal to join Harry Redknapp’s backroom staff at QPR. But less than three months later he took the vacant head coach role at Derby County.
He quickly turned fortunes around and Derby surged towards a third-placed finish in the Championship, ultimately missing out to QPR in the Play-Off final at Wembley.
Derby dominated the early stages of the 2014/15 season under McClaren, and topped the table in February 2015. Derby’s form nosedived after then and a 3-0 home loss to Reading on the final game of the season (when a point would have sufficed) meant that Derby missed out on the Play-Off places. McClaren was sacked on May 25.
