Steve McLaren to get England manager job

Apparently it now looks like Steve will get the England job.

McClaren will get job - Allardyce (BBC News)


What do the Toytown public think???

are we SO bereft of talent that we have to appoint that u**y git? Steve Coppell*? Wenger (if you could rid the FA of Dein)? Curbishley? Harry Rednap? Scholari would have been a pretty cool choice - but why spoil the party (and hence get the finger)?

*yes I am a Palace fan!

took a while, and now a bit late, but at last someone else on the case for Coppell - I put him as my dark horse back in January (Should Sven resign)

I suppose that next season will really show what he is made of, but no doubting he's done a brilliant job so far with the Royals.

Whenever I think of McLaren I can only picture a smug git with a purile, inane grin explaining away his team's latest loss to some mediocre rabble of journeymen. Just what England needs...a manager who can lose with a smile on his face.

sorry - didn't mean the UG thing about Mr. M**, but yes Coppell has always been an underrated talent... When Palace were in the Prem under his tutelage it was merely a complete lack of management support that failed him and the team (not just money). With England, that would not be the case!

** Mr. Dowie, anyone

Iain Dowie anyone?

Steve McClaren has been part of the England set-up for years and knows his stuff. Middlesborough making the UEFA Cup final and the semi-final of the FA Cup are very good achievement IMHO. OK, so he has had his ups and downs this season but what do you actually expect from the team? Top 4 finish? Not really.
Steve Coppell will no doubt make a great England manager one day and I hope he does figure in the England set-up after the World Cup. What he has achieved at Reading is amazing. Their attacking football is a joy to watch and I would love to see him transferring that to an international level

Am a big fan* of Dowie, in a short space of managerial time he has worked wonders, certainly one to watch for the future.

*Jealous Oldham fan that we lost him for nowt, though want to see Palace win the play offs.

I worked with him when he was an aerospace engineer in Hatfield. A good lad and a fair centre forward in his time.

As a Boro fan, I'll be sad to see him go and he'll be welcome back any time. Shame UEFA Cup isn't being played at the Riverside though because we'd be laughing then...

Personally I think he is a mediocre manager at best. Good achievement getting to the UEFA Cup Final but what people forget is that he has never actually been that short of money to spend and has assembled a squad that in my opinion should be considerably higher than 13th in the table.

Also this is the same man who has been involved in the England setup that has consistently failed to come up with a plan B. Hardly strikes me as encouraging. Have also read on various forums that he is often not liked by players and comes across as arrogant.

Appointing McClaren is pretty much the same as keeping Sven in the job which is not a good thing in my opinion.

Hmmmmmm, looks like it's getting close and no, I don't really think he is anything other than 2nd choice - at best.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/i...als/4971072.stm

Christ almighty. Is it too late to ask El Tel back? Fuck, I'd put Gary Lineker, Hansen and Wright in charge and have them manage the team live on BBC 4.

Wel if he gets it then good luck to him. I can see he will not have an easy task as so many people seem to be expecting him to fail.

Of course he has a plan B. Stick on 4 forwards and pray for a miracle. It's worked twice this season already.
Looking forward to seeing Bent, Crouch, Defoe and Owen tearing defences apart this summer.

Well not according to Tord Grip

England number two Tord Grip admits Sven-Goran Eriksson has not yet devised a Plan B to deal with Wayne Rooney's possible absence from the World Cup.

The Manchester United striker, 20, is likely to miss England's group games after breaking a bone in his foot against Chelsea on Saturday.

Grip told the Sun: "We're working on Plan B now - but just how that plan looks, I really don't know."

So that means that they were going into the World Cup with 1 plan and no clue about what to do if it didn't work. Even if Rooney hadn't been injured, this strikes me as a terrible piece of management and planning. And McClaren is involved with this setup as well and is therefore also to blame. Absolutely pathetic if you ask me. And for this Eriksson is the highest paid international manager in the world???

It will be interesting to see what salary they offer McClaren. Will he also get big bucks, to demonstrate what an important position english manager is, or will they pay him according to his level of experience - ie mediocre premiership boss.

He'll be on a fraction of Sven's salary. They're not going to whack out GBP 4 million a year to someone who has won bugger all.

I think too many of you people read to much southern bias press.
Want Steve Mac has done at Boro has been astonishing as opposed
to Robbo's era. He has NOT had loads of money to spend.
He has overseen the most successful youth development programme
since Fergie's babes came through.
He is the only English manager with international experience and, for that
matter European experience.
He has constantly learn from his mistakes and IS master tactician who
has guided Boro to our first European Cup Final.

I wish him well.

Can I just point out that SGE was a very successful club manager!!

so its official then -SM is it!
ouch!

@fartonmeballs

Well obviously his international experience only includes standing on the touchline and not doing anything as Sven obviously doesn't trust him.

If he did and he is this supposed master tactician then why have England never had any ideas how to change a game when losing. Or does give it to Sol Campbell so he can punt long balls forward when losing against 10 man Brazil count as genius? Why has Grip admitted that England had no plan B for the World Cup? Even with Rooney we should have a plan B and plenty more besides. So either Eriksson doesn't listen to McClaren or between them they could only come up with 1 strategy.

Personally I don't think he is the right man for the job although I hope I am proved wrong.

The sweet FA must also share some of the blame for insisting on making an appointment before the World Cup. There are bound to be more candidates available after the World Cup so why the rush?

Because Eriksson was the England manager, Mac was the coach!!
Holding a lead against Brazil (winners) is no mean feat for any manager!
Re: Tord Grip & no plan B. Stop reading the gutter press.

McClaren named new England boss - Sky News

The Grip quote was admittedly from the BBC Website taken from The Sun. If it was a lie then I would think he would have disputed it though.

As for holding a lead against Brazil, England were 2-1 down at the time and for 30+ minutes had a 1 man advantage. Punting long balls forward from Campbell was pretty much our only tactic. I'm not even sure we had a shot on goal in the second half and am almost certain we didn't after Brazil went down to 10 men after Ronaldihno was sent off.

Yes McClaren is a coach and Eriksson the manager but aren't coaches supposed to have some input? I think there are very few people who would say that under the current management team England have looked like being able to change a game tactically. Tactics and formation changes come from the manager and the coaches. All I ever see when it is going wrong is Sven standing there looking puzzled and McClaren's face getting redder and redder.

whatever!!

Expectations are too high!

Who did you suggest as manager

I would like to have waited until after the World Cup and taken our time to pick the right manager for the job. Can it really be said that McClaren was first choice? So yet again we have settled for second best (if that).

After the World Cup it is quite possible that people like Scolari and a lot of other managers would have been interested in the England job but we had to rush into it, then leak information to the press which then puts of potential managers.

I am sure there are quite a lot of decent managers who would be interested in the England job - let's face it the squad isn't too bad but chances are most of them would only want to discuss it after the end of the league seasons and World Cup. This was an option that the FA decided was unacceptable and which greatly narrowed down the possibilities.

Once again I really hope McClaren proves me wrong but to me he is another SGE albeit on a lot less money.

Just a thought. If we have a really poor World Cup will that only heap more pressure on McClaren? And that before he is even the manager. It could make his position almost untenable.

poor bloke, everybody's picking on him already and he hasn't even started yet
i'd like to see peeps at least give him a decent run before they start slating him
he comes from fine northern stock, so he can't be that bad

I hear ya wibble.

Trouble is the England job is a no win situation unless the WC is actually won, and
I agree that if this campaign goes bad, then SMAC will be under intense pressure
and ridicule on a Taylor-esk scale.

However, we wanted an English manager, he is the best contender and he wants the job.

International games are all cup competitions and therefore league success can mean nothing.
I have seen SMAC take Boro to the UEFA cup final, during a rollercoaster season, beating very
good teams on the way ie Roma, Basel, Rapid etc.
Tactical bravery to rescue lost causes in UEFA and he has also tactically outwitted Mourinho and Fergie
this season. (but not Wenger )

Dont underestimate him!

not sure what to make of his appointment, mixed feelings really I guess

I kind of glad it's all over. I hate the media in these situations. I believe Steve McLaren has got what it takes. It's just a question of seeing what he can do over the 4 years now. I also kind of agree with fartonmeballs. McLaren has actually got pedigree and history. Think about this for a second: Middlesbrough in a European final. Awesome when you think about it. Also he seems good at spotting talented youth. I'm not going to pull him apart before we've seen him do his job. At least he's English.

And he also endulges(d) in extra-curricular activities; which may have given him the edge over the other?

Big Spam; think not.

Only manager whose team have scored more than two goals against Chelsea all season. Problem for McLaren is always going to be that he was the manager of a mediocre club with a mediocre amount of financial resources. I'm still reelin' that he's only 9 months older than me.

As a sporting nation and a nation of sports, we should give him the benefit of the doubt and a fair crack of the whip.

Until Sunday for example?

Everyone thought Bobby Robson was a bad choice for manager, and the press hounded him throughout his term, and now he's thought of as one of the best England managers ever. Kevin Keegan was a hugely popular choice for England manager, and he was total shit. I don't know if McClaren is going to be good or bad, but I'm prepared to give him a chance.

Well good luck to him I say. The right decision in terms of releasing details of his affair before he got the job, so he's starting off on a clean slate with the press so to speak.

Euro 2008, we have a fairly, if not very easy qualification group. Best team in there is probably Croatia. So I would expect us to qualify from that group with ease.

Be interesting to see what he does with the captaincy? Will he keep Beckham? My choice would be to give it to Lampard.

I'd give the captaincy to John Terry. The best captains are always those at the back viewing the whole field.

I have mixed feelings as well, SM's results have not been very consistent. Although on the plus side, he's English, he's already been involved with the squad so at least he knows the score, and it will be less disruption for the players.

I'd give the captaincy to Crouchy! He has the best view of the game!

think you need more than height... a few goals would be a start!

I'd give it to Lampard.

No Loopy, Crouchy! If you can make McLaren manager, you can make Crouchy Captain! (And put Lampard in Goal maybe, just behind Owen and Cole, Play Terry wide on the Left, and Ballack up front supporting Jensen Button)

Second that vote for Crouch. When they shake hands in the middle, it will be a huge psychological advantage (just like boxing) that he stares down from 3 metres 42 on the opposing captain. Also he is so bloody ugly and will give them the "extra willies".

Alternatives could be either Terry or Gerrard. Beckham should be used for marketting purposes and nothing else.

One last point - I thought they wanted an English bloke to do it. McLaren is obviously jock.

Well the FA didn't believe McClaren had what it takes otherwise he would have been first choice which he clearly wasn't. What history has McClaren actually got?

Yes he has won the League Cup and Boro are in the UEFA Cup final. However the fact they are in the final has more to do with the players at his disposal and a fair degree of luck than his tactical genius.

And ok so they beat Chelsea this season. They also lost 4-0 at home against Aston 'we aren't even mediocre anymore' Villa and 7-0 away to Arsenal. If we want inconsistency for England then I don't think we have to worry there.

I do actually wish him all the best but I can't say I'm happy about his appointment and I couldn't give a shit that he's English. I'd always take the best man for the job which I sincerely don't believe he is.

I also think he is going to need to deliver immediate dividends as the majority of people don't seem all the happy about his appointment. Had a look on 606 yesterday and within a couple of minutes of him being appointed there was a thread entitled sack McClaren that already had a fairly long list of signatures.

As for the FA, I assume they are the same bunch of inbred morons that are running the RFU. The shakeup in the rugby was nothing more than a piss take and the handling of the England managers job by the FA couldn't have been done any worse either.

Mcclaren has been assistant to sven since he took up the job so knows the setup, players and all the rest, as well as proving himself with a less than World class team in domestic and international competitions...

That's the history he has...

Not only that, but you then had the incredible spectacle of Barwick claiming he was first choice all along. It defies belief that he made this statement, still more that he expects us to believe it.

"Proving himself" By what? Spending lots of cash and finishing 13th? Brilliant, well done.

The UEFA Cup this season has been a joke as well. Fair play to Boro, you can only beat what's put in front of you, but it's fair to say the competition is greatly devalued by the expanded Champions' League and there really weren't that many good teams in it to start with.

So he won the mickey mouse Cup and somehow managed to scrabble his way into the UEFA Cup final. Not something that you really need a world class team for.

Also if you look at some of the players at his disposal they aren't bad. Boateng is being looked at by Milan at the moment. Hasselbank is not a bad striker and Yakubu has a fairly good pedigree. Add to that players like Mendieta, Parlour, Viduka, Shwarzer, Ehiogu and Rochemback I would certianly expect them to be higher than 13th in the table. In that sense he has done about as good a job for Boro in the league as Souness did for Newcastle and I don't think anyone would deny that Sounness did a crap job.

You dont scrabble your way to a european cup final.

Name me a current English manager who has better credentials than SMAC?...and wanted the job

I take your point about senior players, but look at the youth that is coming though at Middlesbrough.
This season in the league has been dissappointing as we are going through a bit of a transition phase.

Last season we finished sixth.

Please dont compare us with the barcodes!

There are no English managers with the credentials/pedigree to manage England and that is the sad but inescapable truth. For some reason we just don't produce many decent managers these days.

But if people want an English manager then we will have to settle for a second rate manager from a club stuck in mid table mediocrity. I just hope he can inspire the players as let's face it this is the best England squad we have had for quite some time.