Former Newcastle United midfielder Mick Martin has spoken of how some of Derby County’s key men told him they were “gutted” to see Steve McClaren’s time at Pride Park come to an end.
McClaren certainly turned Derby into a formidable side in the Sky Bet Championship over the last couple of years, but was sacked after an alarming slide that saw the Rams finish 7th after topping the table in February.
And Martin, speaking to Lee Ryder of the Evening Chronicle, revealed the disappointment of some of McClaren’s former players.
Martin told the Chronicle: “While I was in Ireland recently for the Ireland-Scotland game, I stayed in the team hotel – and after the game I was talking to Jeff Hendrick and Richard Keogh from Derby, and they were talking about Steve [McClaren].
“They told me they were gutted because they liked him. They said the people of Newcastle will love him because he’s very attacking orientated.”
It’s good to see that McClaren has still left a great impression on his further players, even after the catastrophic end to Derby’s 2014/15 campaign.
Elsewhere, Newcastle United’s pursuit of Aymen Abdennour appears to be over after the Monaco defender’s agent dropped a hint that his man would not be heading to St. James’ Park.
Abdennour’s agent, Abdelkader Jilani, has spoken about the teams interested in the 25-year-old – without mention of United on the list.
When Barcelona were mentioned as a possible destination for his client, Jilani said: “They are one of the interested parties, like Milan, Inter, Juventus and Liverpool.”
