Steve McClaren
Assistant manager to Manchester United, assistant manager for England, led Middlesbrough to the Uefa Cup final and now England manager.
You’d think that with that sort of resume, McClaren might be an up and coming manager with the ability to inject passion and life into England performances.
You’d be wrong, too.
It’s A Fickle Old Game
This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here. I think Sami Hyypia summed everything up brilliantly the other week. ‘When we were winning, the rotation wasn’t a problem but now we lose a game and it is.’ Fickleness is to football as Manchester United is…
England are back where they started
Sep 2, 2006 – England beat Andorra 5-0 in a somewhat pointless Euro 2008 qualifier. Having beaten Greece convincingly some time before in a friendly, McClaren’s “new England” are buoyant and enthusiastic about their future. Sep 12, 2007 – England beat Russia 3-0 at Wembley. Having beaten Israel 3-0 4 days ago, McClaren’s “new England”…
Who Should be England’s Next Goalkeeper?
Paul Robinson’s crucifixation has started again, and combined with ‘that goal’ in the Croatia game as well as the short term memory of the press hacks calling for the recall of David James – these people seem to have forgotten that they hounded David James out the same way and for the same reasons that…
Gill: McClaren in frame for Manchester United job
David Gill has responded to Ferguson’s desire to retire at the end of this season by naming an unlikely candidate as successor: Steve McClaren.
England’s secret war
Disclaimer: This is personal opinion, so keep that in mind before you go off on a rant. We know that the English media are a soulless, immoral, self-righteous and hypocritical bunch.
England watch: McClaren under viscious attack from the Sun
Before the Israel game, Pini Zahavi, super-agent, predicted that the English media would set upon Steven McClaren like a pack of wolves if England failed to beat Israel. He may just have been stating the obvious truth, but what he predicted has come to pass.
Zahavi blames squad “jealousy” of Beckham for England’s WC 2006 “failure”
Long story short – Zahavi speaks to the Israeli press about the Israel v England game, talks about the England squad under Eriksson being jealous of Beckham and about the possible reaction in England towards McClaren if England loses to Israel tomorrow.
Israel 0-0 England – out of balance and out of ideas
This post is about the Israel qualifier in March 2007 – for the recent qualifying game (September 2007), see this article: England vs Israel, 8th Sep 07, Wembley. Yesterday, I foolishly allowed hope to replace reality. I wrote that McClaren’s policy of putting out the best 11 players (as opposed to the best team) would…
Lampard and Gerrard can no longer be automatic choices for England
Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard should no longer be considered as automatic choices for England’s midfield. While their performances for their clubs are usually first rate that has never been the case when they play for England.
The case for David Beckham
There’s a lot of debate going on about what England and McClaren should do to turn things around. England have not become ‘bad’ all of a sudden. This was a stale team that was rejuvenated in 1998 and 2000 by Michael Owen, carried in 2002 by David Beckham, rejuvenated again in 2004 by Rooney and…
Football News 24/7
