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‘You don’t turn down the England job’ – Steve McClaren’s Three Lions move came ‘too soon’ despite history-making spell as Middlesbrough manager
Steve McClaren is set to be named as part of Erik ten Hag’s coaching team at Manchester United - the latest chapter in a long and storied career.
At 61, he has had highs and plenty of lows over the course of his coaching career - but his greatest achievement was during his time as Middlesbrough manager.
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After helping Man United to various titles including the treble in 1999 as part of Sir Alex Ferguson's staff, McClaren was named as Boro boss to lead the side into an exciting new era.
Responsible for overseeing the evolution of the team with signings such as Gareth Soutgate, George Boateng, Juninho, Gaizka Mendieta and Bolo Zenden, McClaren led Middlesbrough to their first major trophy in their 128-year history.
In their first ever European campaign, he then led the team deep into the knockout stages, before earning the club’s highest-ever Premier League finish to secure European football for a second successive season.
While Middlesbrough were established in the top eight of the Premier League and expected to go far in Europe, a bleak run of form in January 2006 saw McClaren on the cusp of the sack after a run of results that included a 7-0 defeat to Arsenal, a 3-2 loss to Wigan and a 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa where one fan stormed to the technical area before throwing his season ticket at the manager.
Despite this, McClaren’s past achievements and his role as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s number two for England had seen him heavily linked with being the Swedish boss’s successor for the Three Lions.
In , this is the story of how McClaren went from the cusp of the sack to taking the biggest job in English football.
Things couldn’t have looked bleaker for Steve McClaren at the turn of the year. Sitting just a few points from the relegation, seeing his team lose 7-0 on the road and then having a supporter throw a season ticket at you for losing 4-0 at home to Aston Villa is a clear indication that a manager is on the cusp of the sack; however, things seemed to click back into place at an astounding rate.
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Steve Gibson was a man who kept a low profile as chairman of the club, but he did speak out from time to time in interviews with the local press and radio. Writing in the matchday programme ahead of the Roma clash, Gibson had thrown his support behind McClaren, saying, ‘It’s appropriate on a unique occasion such as this for me to say a few words about our manager, Steve McClaren. After a difficult two months, during which we suffered very disappointing form, our recent improved results have helped to stabilise the club.
Throughout our poor run, Steve remained resolutely confident that he, his staff and his players would turn it around, always insisting fortunes would improve. I thought he handled with dignity a period when he was under a fair amount of pressure and had to take much external criticism. During a period that proved immensely difficult for him, it was to Steve’s credit that he never used the injuries we had suffered as an excuse.’
Gibson added, ‘We all knew that the season was not progressing as we had hoped, but football is not predictable. It would be boring if it was. The facts are that we have moved forward under Steve’s management and this season remains very much alive. We are still in two very exciting cup competitions and there may yet be another twist in the tail. As long as we retain our Premiership status – and I think we are fairly close to that now – then we know where we need to strengthen in the summer. In fact, we are already busy planning for next season.’
Middlesbrough’s crisis period in January coincided with England’s announcement that Sven-Göran Eriksson would step down from his role following the upcoming World Cup. Such an announcement wasn’t much of a surprise given the widespread criticism of the Swedish boss, meaning that the FA were looking for a new face to get the very best out of a group of internationals who were regarded as the best of a generation.
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With over six months until Eriksson was set to leave, it was inevitable that the national media would go into overdrive as they speculated over his successor. The likes of Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley were heavily linked due to their relative success with Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic, while overseas managers such as Luiz Philip Scolari, Jose Mourinho and Fabio Capello were also linked.
The favourite for the role, however, was Steve McClaren. No manager in the Premier League had exceeded expectations quite like the Middlesbrough boss who was now regarded as one of the best managers outside of traditional top four. McClaren’s international cause was also aided by the fact that he was already an integral part of the senior set-up with England, having taken on the role of coach in 2000 and moving up to assistant manager under Eriksson.
There was little doubt that the Middlesbrough boss was highly regarded by the FA and after offering the role to Scolari and seeing the position turned down, it didn’t take long for speculation around McClaren to heat up.
The worrying drop in form over January and February was clearly a cause for concern among club and country, but with results starting to pull Middlesbrough away from the relegation battle and with the club in the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup and the FA Cup, there was a real chance that this was a season that could see McClaren’s stock rise even further than it had already at the Riverside Stadium. As a result, the media scrutiny surrounding the Middlesbrough boss was building, with the club welcoming a larger amount of interest from the national press with journalists keen to probe McClaren about the England job as speculation continued to swirl.
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McClaren’s experience of tackling questions around the England job was just getting started, but as was his wish, attention would soon turn back to one of the most memorable on-pitch moments in his managerial career to date.
Fast-forward just three months to April 2006 and speculation was starting to reach boiling point.
After staving off the threat of a relegation battle, Middlesbrough had seen themselves progress all the way to the FA Cup semi-finals where they lost 1-0 to West Ham at Villa Park, a defeat that would see Alan Pardew’s side set up a memorable showpiece event against Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium.
McClaren’s side would also defy all expectations to progress through the knockout stages to earn a spot in the UEFA Cup final in Eindhoven.
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Dramatic comebacks against FC Basel and Steaua Bucharest, where they clawed back a 3-0 aggregate disadvantage, ensured that Boro were the talk of the town.
Middlesbrough’s heroics in the UEFA Cup had earned them plaudits all over the football world. With a spot in a major European final on the cards, it meant that the story of Steve McClaren’s side had spread far and wide, with the journey to Eindhoven being the stuff of footballing fairy tales. It was also the sort of achievement that key figures at the Football Association just couldn’t ignore.
Speculation had been building for months regarding the England manager’s post, with Sven-Göran Eriksson set to leave his role following the end of the 2006 World Cup and Middlesbrough’s boss was one of a number of names in the mix.
While progress in the FA Cup and UEFA Cup hadn’t been hampered, Middlesbrough’s form in the Premier League had been quite poor with the team unable to find the sort of consistency needed to get anywhere near the top half of the table. With three-match weeks now a regular occurrence, there was hardly room to breathe behind the scenes, and with the national press intent on getting to the bottom of England’s managerial search, Dave Allan explained how pressure was building on McClaren.
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He said, ‘I remember near the end of the season when there was big speculation about him. I took him his briefing sheet before a press conference, and I told him that he wasn’t going to be asked about the Middlesbrough game. He looked at me, and I told him that they’re only interested in hearing if you’re going to be England manager. He said, “I’m here to talk about Middlesbrough’s game tomorrow,” and I said, “well, they aren’t!”
‘As I walked out of the room I stopped and looked back at him. I said, “Steve, you’re not going to take it are you? The England job.” I remember thinking that it was just too soon for him, but he replied, saying “you don’t turn down the England job, Dave.” It was a pretty dramatic time, to say the least.’
After witnessing his achievements in reaching the FA Cup semi-final and the UEFA Cup final, it was then that they decided that he was the man to lead the national team moving forward. McClaren was officially named as England’s next manager on May 4, 2006, meaning that Middlesbrough’s final two matches of the season would be his last in Middlesbrough colours.
While professional footballers are rightly subjected to high expectations from paying supporters, such uncertainty regarding the first team manager will always hamper preparations. At best, players will be distracted and speculating as to whether their current boss will still be around next season; at worst, some will feel unsettled as to what the future holds for the football club and more importantly, themselves as players. Those who were highly regarded by McClaren would have to prove themselves under a new manager, while those who were out of favour, or bit-part players could be looking forward to the prospect of a fresh start under a new manager.
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Steve McClaren’s last match as manager would be the UEFA Cup final against Spanish side Sevilla, but before that he would face his final Premier League clash as Middlesbrough boss with a trip to face Fulham at Craven Cottage. With little to play for in terms of league position, the manager made a decision that would go down in Premier League history.
Upon taking the manager’s job, McClaren had made it his mission to provide a pathway for talented young players to move from the club’s academy system and into the first team fold. That process had included offloading fully developed players from the club’s reserve team and ensuring that young players were rewarded for their hard work with a chance to impress at first team level.
Many players had been handed their senior debuts by McClaren that season, but the clash with Fulham was a landmark occasion for Middlesbrough’s academy system.
Middlesbrough’s starting XI would include ten academy graduates with the exception of Malcolm Christie, while a substitution late in the game that saw Tom Craddock introduced in Christie’s place would mean that all 11 players on the pitch had been a product of Boro’s youth set-up. With veteran Colin Cooper coming off the bench as a late substitute in the final appearance of his career, it meant that 15 of the 16 players in the squad that day had been developed on Teesside.
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The team that day was: Ross Turnbull, Andrew Davies, Matthew Bates, David Wheater, Andrew Taylor, James Morrison, Lee Cattermole, Jason Kennedy, Adam Johnson, Danny Graham, Malcolm Christie. The subs were: David Knight, Colin Cooper, Tony McMahon, Josh Walker, Tom Craddock.
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While a Heiðar Helguson penalty would subject Middlesbrough to a 1-0 defeat in west London and secure a final position of 14th in the Premier League, there was no doubt that it was a day of pride around Teesside and a moment that would form an integral part of Steve McClaren’s legacy as manager.
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