Posted May 4, 200619 yr McClaren named as England manager McClaren has long been one of the front-runners for the job Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren has been appointed the next England manager, ending months of speculation over Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor. McClaren had looked set to miss out to Portugal manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, who was offered the post by the Football Association in April. But when Scolari ruled himself out of contention McClaren, 45, became the FA's first choice. Eriksson's current assistant has agreed a four-year deal starting on 1 August. "This is the biggest honour that any coach can have, and is obviously the highlight of my career," he said. "It's a massive challenge and one that I welcome. I have hugely enjoyed my time at Middlesbrough and am very grateful to the club. "However, this was an opportunity I couldn't refuse. ROUTE TO SVEN'S SUCCESSOR 23 Jan: Eriksson to quit 25 Jan: Hiddink interested 7 Feb: Curbishley tipped 17 Feb: O'Neill tops poll 13 March: Charlton give Curbishley all clear 22 March: Pearce plays down England rumours 26 March: Allardyce calls for English boss to succeed Sven 5 April: FA options open 9 April: Hiddink ruled out 16 April: Scolari 'out of England running' 20 April: Media back O'Neill 25 April: Allardyce in the frame for England job 27 April: FA deal for Scolari 28 April: Scolari rejects deal "My immediate priority is next week's Uefa Cup Final with Boro, and then working with Sven and his coaching team to achieve success in Germany this summer, before I turn my thoughts to the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign." McClaren made his way to London from his Yorkshire home earlier in the day and arrived at the FA's Soho Square headquarters at 1540 BST. He was immediately rushed inside before an official announcement was made at 1620 BST. And together with FA chief executive Brian Barwick, he signed his deal in front of the assembled media at around 1640 BST. McClaren has been involved with the England set-up on and off since becoming Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United. His silverware during five years as team boss at the Riverside Stadium, however, has been limited to the Carling Cup two seasons ago, although he has led Boro to the Uefa Cup final this year. Speculation over Eriksson's successor was rife when the Swede announced in January he would be stepping down from his role as England manager at the end of the World Cup. Former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill was the initial bookmakers' favourite, while McClaren was not heavily fancied as Middlesbrough suffered heavy defeats to Arsenal and Aston Villa around the time of Eriksson's decision. But after turning around Boro's fortunes, McClaren became the reported front-runner of a shortlist including Scolari, O'Neill, Alan Curbishley and Sam Allardyce to the extent that Boro started their search for a new manager. But in a late change, reportedly instigated by Arsenal chairman David Dein in his role at the FA, Scolari was offered the post which he later rejected paving the way for McClaren to take over. McClaren will be by Eriksson's side during this summer's World Cup in Germany and his reputation would be enhanced by a successful campaign. However a disappointing tournament could place him under early pressure. From BBC Sport :cry:
May 4, 200619 yr I don't know how this is gonna plan out. He's a great coach, but as a manager he's un-proven, but he was the best man for the job out of the English managers.
May 4, 200619 yr I don't think we can complain tbh. Out of the possible people left in the running, he was definitley the best man for the job. I wouldn't have thought that been England manager these days would be such a hard job with the crop of players that they have at the moment.
May 4, 200619 yr The FA are idiots, why apoint someone the job who has won only 38% of his games over 4 years at Middlesbrough, the press have messed this up by making Scolari back out of the job and then they choose McClaren who has only managed one high finish in the Premiership and look where Boro are in the table. Why not O'Neil ? It's stupid.
May 4, 200619 yr Author Yeah it does baffle me why they've pushed O'Neil out of the picture. He had endless sucess with Celtic and brough Leicester quite a bit of glory as well.
May 4, 200619 yr Yeah it does baffle me why they've pushed O'Neil out of the picture. He had endless sucess with Celtic and brough Leicester quite a bit of glory as well. Charlton Athletic. I reckon he's going there and thats why they ended their intrest in him.
May 4, 200619 yr Celtic are effectively in a 2 team league though the rest are just cannon fodder so realistically O'Neill had a 50% chance of winning the title each year Apparently money was the reason why MON was not considered, his demands were the highest out of all the candidates
May 4, 200619 yr Well this season the SPL has been a three team league. I don't like the split though as the team currently in 7th have more points than 5th and 6th.
May 4, 200619 yr I think he has false teeth... at the front anyway they look weird on this pic http://www.itv-football.co.uk/Images/SteveMcClarenhappyITV.jpg
May 4, 200619 yr The new Graham Taylor Totally disagree. The new Graham Taylor is Sam Allardyce. Steve McLaren has worked with two of the greatest managers in the business - Alex Ferguson & Sven Goran Erikkson (who as every one in the UK seems to have forgotten has won League Titles in three different countries - all with teams who were on a downward spiral before he managed them & that is why he is favourite to become manager of Real Madrid after the World Cup.) As a coach Steve McLaren coaching abilities has meant that he has worked with many star players & look how Man Utd have gone downhill since he left to manage Middlesbrough a few years ago. As a coach he had a major impact on bringing on "Fergies fledglings" that reached their peak when winning the European Cup in 1999. As manager of Middlesbrough he has won their first major trophy & led them to the Final of the UEFA cup by coming back from a three goal deficit on two occasions. As for those who regard McLaren as a good number 2 but nothing more then remember Chelsea's Jose Mourinho was asistant to Bobby Robson & Dutch legend Louis Van Gaal before becoming a manager. As for Sam Allardyce his side Bolton plays a very direct style of Football (unlike Middlesbrough) similar to the style of Football adopted by Graham Taylor's Watford & Aston Villa teams (ie. Very boring which would be great news for Peter Crouch but not so good news for Wayne Rooney). Another thing Sam Allardyce & Graham Taylor had in common is that they were/are heavily into the latest technology & football systems available. Remember the Graham Taylor England documentary when he was trying to explain a complicated playing system to the England squad & Gazza turned to one of the cameras & gave some hand & face gestures clearly suggesting that he did not understand a word of it. :wacko: I can certainly imagine Sam doing the same thing with a Powerpoint presentation on his PC laptop to a confused Wayne Rooney. Finally, remember that Sam Allardyce has said this year that Kevin Nolan is the best English midfielder in the country (Yes of course he is better than Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham & Cole <_< ). While Graham Taylor famously dropped Gazza for Geoff Thomas & never gave Matthew Le Tissier a cap.
May 4, 200619 yr Well i'm glad that Allardyce wasn't given the top as it would have been one big mistake, as he plays boring football and i'm sure that most England fans would rather see their team play well and get beat then play boringly and win...........well I know I would. With McLaren though I don't think he's a great leader, but he does know how to motivate players though and I think only time will tell whether the FA made a good choice.
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