McClaren Back In Football?

[Nemesis]

You couldn't make it up-apparently, FC 20 are reported to be signing him.

They must be desperate...

 

[Frutos]

Who are FC 20?

 

[Deductions]

FC Twente, duh.

They just beat Ajax over 2 legs to qualify for the Champions League to.

 

[Frutos]

FC Twente, duh.

I would have thought the Eredivisie would be a bit too high of a level for McClown.

 

[Deductions]

I would have thought the Eredivisie would be a bit too high of a level for McClown.

Why would a team thats just qualified for the CL want him?

You would think they'd want to keep the guy who just got them there.

 

[Frutos]

You would think they'd want to keep the guy who just got them there.

They probably did want to keep him. They haven't sacked their coach (Fred Rutten), he's leaving to manage Schalke next season.

 

[Nemesis]

FC Twente

They just beat Ajax over 2 legs to qualify for the Champions League to.

Them too..

 

[Man of Harveys]

Far be it from me to want to intrude on private grief but does anyone really think that England's recent failures are entirely to blame on one incompetent individual - who was highly rated by, say, Alex Ferguson - rather than any more deep-rooted structural problems than that, like too much Sky money attracting foreign players etc? *scarpers, partly to avoid fat blokes throwing chairs at him*

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Far be it from me to want to intrude on private grief but does anyone really think that England's recent failures are entirely to blame on one incompetent individual - who was highly rated by, say, Alex Ferguson - rather than any more deep-rooted structural problems than that, like too much Sky money attracting foreign players etc? *scarpers, partly to avoid fat blokes throwing chairs at him*

Sorry Colin, but McLaren was largely to blame. He was fecking useless

 

[Kukev31]

Didn't he do quite a good job at Middlesbrough though?

 

[crodonilson]

He did a fine job at Derby, Man Utd and Middlesbrough.

Granted things didn't quite happen for him at England, for a variety of reasons, some out of his scope but he's one of the best coaches in the English game and I think he'll do a great job at FC Twente and deserves his crack at Champions League football.

 

[Icy Gull]

I got more enjoyment out of watching McClaren's England play in the last few games of Euro 2008 than the vast majority of Sven's games in charge. There's no denying Sven's greater succes in qualifying tournaments (dull though we were to watch, which we weren't under latter McClaren matches) but in the end we still lost when it mattered in a whimpish cop out manner in every tournament he led us through so the end resut was the same but the disappointment, for me anyway, of losing meakly in a q/f was far worse than not even qualifying...

 

[Zesh Rehman]

I think hes a good manager, good luck to him

 

[Tooting Gull]

He did a fine job at Derby, Man Utd and Middlesbrough.

Granted things didn't quite happen for him at England, for a variety of reasons, some out of his scope but he's one of the best coaches in the English game and I think he'll do a great job at FC Twente and deserves his crack at Champions League football.

The main reason things didn't quite happen for him with England was because he was utter shite as a coach. What he DESERVES is a crack at the FA Trophy - if he gets a go at the Champions League, he's the luckiest man alive.

However, leaving McClown's shortcomings to one side for a moment, Harvs once again cuts through all the English hype, though I'm sure I've thrown the odd 'white plastic chair' in his direction myself in the past.

For the 30 years I've been watching football we've never had the technique of the top teams, even the ones we somehow manage to beat. Everyone wrings their hands, but nothing changes, and that normally means one thing - money. No one is prepared to fund the coaching properly and seriously encourage skills and enjoyment ahead of winning and clearing the ball into touch at a young age.

 

[Man of Harveys]

The "FA stooge" is one of the best wind-up personae we've had on here. At least I sincerely hope it's that.

I've no strong feelings about Maclaren and I could never be arsed to defend him but I'm just a bit dubious about whether someone as shrewd as Fergie would employ him if he had no football coaching or management merit whatsoever.

I just reckon it's become far too easy for the press to dump all the blame onto one much-vilified person while the mega-rich Premiership continues to deny English players first-team experience and deter clubs from proper youth team coaching, as Tooting mentions. Because the Sun is unlikely ever to point out that Sky Sports' megabucks adversely affect England. Far easier to vilify one clearly over-promoted bloke.

Anyway, I'd best get back to practicing painting my face red gold and black whilst eating a bratwurst ahead of Euro 2008.

 

[Bluejuice]

If he was so good at Boro why were the fans so glad to see the back of him?

Anyone recall the 4-0 home reverse to Aston Villa in the 05/06 season? I seem to recall one fan ran the length of the pitch to throw his season ticket away in disgust.

He managed to get Middlesborough to the UEFA cup final after as easy a route as you will ever see, then watched them get outplayed by Sevilla, shipping 4 goals in the process.

Hardly qualifies him as a success in my book

 

[Brovion]

Far be it from me to want to intrude on private grief but does anyone really think that England's recent failures are entirely to blame on one incompetent individual - who was highly rated by, say, Alex Ferguson - rather than any more deep-rooted structural problems than that, like too much Sky money attracting foreign players etc? *scarpers, partly to avoid fat blokes throwing chairs at him*

There's a lot of truth in that but the bottom line is that there's more than one factor behind England's appalling competitve record over the last 60 years. The fact I've used the subjective term 'appalling' (implying we should have done better than we have) is a factor in itself.

PS - Sorry to hear about the Zebras. Reckon they can bounce back?

 

[bigc]

That was even worse considering how DIRE villa were that year.

 

[Nemesis]

Far be it from me to want to intrude on private grief but does anyone really think that England's recent failures are entirely to blame on one incompetent individual - who was highly rated by, say, Alex Ferguson - rather than any more deep-rooted structural problems than that, like too much Sky money attracting foreign players etc? *scarpers, partly to avoid fat blokes throwing chairs at him*

You're absolutely spot-on about the state of the England Team being more about deep rooted structural problems-but McClaren was shite in charge of England. He may have been a good coach but as a manager was out of his depth. That has a familiar ring to it...

It's always good to have a temporary scapegoat though isn't it? What would NSC be without a regular supply of 'em?

 

[crodonilson]

If he was so good at Boro why were the fans so glad to see the back of him?

Anyone recall the 4-0 home reverse to Aston Villa in the 05/06 season? I seem to recall one fan ran the length of the pitch to throw his season ticket away in disgust.

He managed to get Middlesborough to the UEFA cup final after as easy a route as you will ever see, then watched them get outplayed by Sevilla, shipping 4 goals in the process.

Hardly qualifies him as a success in my book

You don't know what you've got till it's gone, I bet they'd love to have him back now. As for the UEFA Cup, you can only beat the opposition in front of you and they did so with some momentous comebacks at the Riverside. They also won their first and only major trophy, that qualifies as a 'great success' in my book.