24 May 2022 09:35:41
What are your thoughts about Steve McLaren as a coach?
I was pretty young and didn't even watch football when he coached here.
All the limelight has been on ETH but I think the coaches are equally as important.
From what I know he played England in a back 5 and saw him in a couple of post match analysis here and there.
Seems to be a knowledgeable guy who is comfortable to tweak formations, looks like a football philosophy guy (LVG like)

What are your 2 cents on him since I've never experienced him up close as a manager or coach?
Maybe a little about the time when he was a coach here?

He might be the person to bridge the gap between English and Dutch and seems like higher quality addition than what we've been used to previously.

Thanks.


1.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 09:51:27
He was a very good coach at United and I think we won the league in the 3 seasons he was here, including the end of treble winning season. He then actually translated that into being a decent manager, going to Middlesbrough and I believe winning the UEFA cup whilst there which is some achievement. This then gave him the England job where he wasn’t the first to fail but fail he did, not qualifying for Euro 2008. Like Graham Taylor before him he was then savaged by the media, called the ‘Wally with a brolly’ and the public perception of him was that he was useless.

Since then he has been and managed abroad and in the championship and had varying degrees of success, but he never really recovered in some people’s eyes from the England failure. I agree he is a good coach to bring in at this time, much better experience and cv than the coaches we have had previously, fingers crossed we haven’t got it wrong again.


2.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 11:32:27
Very good coach and manager. Did very well. Success with Middlesborough and Twente? Brilliant achievements.

Media savaged him and ruined him. But that's what the crappy english media do.


3.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 11:47:56
Didn’t like David Beckham, he bombed him out of the England squad and then paid for it when they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.


4.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 11:49:44
Thanks GDS2, if he is one of coaches during the treble time, seems like a good appointment.
We actually get a coach rather than players who were good players and not coaches in any form.
England job is hard for any manager.


5.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 12:50:52
He won the Dutch league with FC Twente which is not too shoddy given that it's usually dominated by Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. Developed a great Dutch accent whilst speaking English.


6.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 16:30:26
FZZ was Beckham not playing in the MLS at the time?


7.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 17:01:38
Excellent coach, and very capable manager.

Never fully recovered from the media assassination after losing the England job.

To be successful in football management in England at least is to have an odd mix of actual ability AND perceived ability.

You can be good enough, but if the perception is that you aren't good enough or there are doubts about your management then that often undermines all the good you do and ultimately leads to you failing.

Every manager has set backs, and poor results or even the occasional poor run of form. However, if the perception is that you have failed or flopped previously (whether that's, fair or accurate or not), then the moment you have a little dip then the media starts up with the "here we go, he's failing again" and that creeps into the players minds and it often goes down hill from there.

Ultimately once the media in the UK have decided you are a flop it's very hard to rebuild your career after that. You are undermined at every turn.

McClaren was fantastic as Sir Alex's No.2 and will probably go down as one of his best assistant coaches along with Brian Kidd and Carlos Queiroz. He was a key coach in the treble. Won the UEFA cup with Middlesbrough, and won the league in the Eredivisie with FC Twente (with EtH as his assistant) .

So he knows how to coach players, he knows the English game, he speaks Dutch and he knows and has worked well with EtH in the past. He also has knowledge of Manchester United and the inner workings of the club, and how the UK media are with the club.

For me he's a perfect appointment to the coaching staff to aide EtH as he settles into his new job.


8.) 24 May 2022
24 May 2022 21:11:48
If we don't keep Phelan who is going to teach our lads to hoof it?


9.) 25 May 2022
25 May 2022 00:44:05
So long as he’s there to help ETH and not just to report back to Fergie then he could be an exshellent addition to the coaching team.