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Stephen "Steve" McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and the current manager of the England national football team, having succeeded Sven-Göran Eriksson on 1 August2006.

He is also a former manager of English Premiership team Middlesbrough. At Middlesbrough he won them their only trophy to date, winning the 2004 Carling Cup, knocking out Arsenal over two legs in the semi-final, and took them to the 2006 UEFA Cup final knocking out the champions of Switzerland and Romania en route.

Personal life

McClaren was born in Howden, Yorkshire, the son of Margaret (Bogg) and Brian McClaren.

Playing career

As a player, McClaren was a midfielder who spent most of his career in the lower leagues of English football. After leaving Hull City, he played for Derby County, Lincoln City (on loan), Bristol City and Oxford United before an injury forced him to retire in 1992.

• Hull City (1979–1985)
• Derby County (1985–1988) (including a loan period at Lincoln City )
• Bristol City (1988–1989)
• Oxford United (1989–1992)

Managerial career

Coaching career

Shortly after hanging up his boots, he began his coaching career as reserve team coach at Oxford United, where Denis Smith was manager. In 1995, he became first-team coach, and later joined Jim Smith at Derby County, where he was his assistant manager. In December 1998, he accepted the opportunity to become assistant manager under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, replacing Brian Kidd. His first half-season was distinguished by United not losing any games, taking the Treble in the process.

From November 2000 to July 2006 McClaren also held the position of senior national team coach to the England football team, first under caretaker-manager Peter Taylor before being given the position on a permanent basis by Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Middlesbrough

In the summer of 2001, McClaren was offered the position of manager of Middlesbrough by club chairman Steve Gibson. He achieved an FA Cup semi-final place in his first season, losing to Arsenal. He was then in charge as Middlesbrough won their first ever major honour, winning the League Cup in 2004 against Bolton Wanderers at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, taking them into European football for the first time and overseeing the recruitment of many big-name international footballers to the club, including former Chelsea star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. He also pushed the team to reach their highest finish in the Premier League, 7th in the 2004-05 season, which gave them another run in Europe. In the 2005-06 season, Middlesbrough achieved a semi final place in the FA Cup and they lost 4-0 to Sevilla of Spain in the UEFA Cup final in May.

England

In early 2006, Eriksson announced that he would be quitting as manager of the England team, after the 2006 World Cup, and McClaren was placed on the Football Association's shortlist alongside Luiz Felipe Scolari, Martin O'Neill, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley. For a time it looked like Scolari would become England's new manager but he lost interest in the job due to media intrusion. McClaren was subsequently named as Eriksson's successor in May 2006. McClaren's appointment was praised by the likes of Alan Hansen, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Trevor Brooking.

McClaren took over the job on 1 August 2006 with a four-year contract, with former England coach Terry Venables as his assistant. In his first squad, McClaren dropped many older players like Sol Campbell, David James and former captain David Beckham, saying he was planning for "a different direction." However, McClaren stated that there was still a chance that Beckham could be recalled in the future. After initially starting well with three wins, England hit a poor run of form between October 2006 and March 2007 with only one goal scored in five matches. During a European qualifier match against minnows Andorra in March 2007, McClaren and the England team received abuse from supporters during a poor performance in a 3-0 win. McClaren walked out of the post-match press conference following the Andorra game after only two minutes of questions, saying, "Gentlemen, if you want to write whatever you want to write, you can write it because that is all I am going to say. Thank you." England had fallen to fourth in their qualification group.

In May 2007, McClaren made a u-turn by recalling Beckham into the England squad. England subsequently had a run of four wins from six matches, which boosted the country's hopes of qualification for Euro 2008 before a defeat against Russia in October 2007, causing England's qualification fate to fall out of their hands. The FA's chief executive, Brian Barwick, gave his backing to McClaren, despite the defeat.

Press Conference Controversy

After England's defeat in Moscow on October 17, 2007, McLaren refused to answer questions by Russian journalists, or to have anything he said translated to Russian during the Press Conference

Fan Pressure

McClaren is currently under pressure as England's European Championship 2008 qualifying campaign has not been satisfactory for the English supporters. However, he has been backed by players in his team.

Managerial stats

As of 19 October 2007.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Middlesbrough		June 12 2001	May 11 2006	250	97	93	60	38.80
England		August 1 2006	Present	17	9	4	4	52.94

References

1. "McClaren named as England manager". BBC. 2006-05-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/05/12/nosplit/ftdet112.xml
3. ^ "Rock solid Steve" - BBC Sport profile, 4 May 2006
4. "Jim Smith backs protege McClaren" - BBC Sport, 4 May 2006
5. FA's England manager shortlist - BBC Sport
6. "Hansen's view on McClaren" - BBC Sport, 4 May 2006
7. "Reactions to McClaren appointment" - BBC Sport, 4 May 2006
8. "McClaren is the man" - The FA's announcement of McClaren's appointment as next England coach
9. Sam Wallace (12 August 2006). ""Mac the knife ends Beckham era with a chat on the phone"". The Independent. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
10. "Beckham gives Macca a problem". Teamtalk.
11. "McClaren appeals to England fans". BBC Sport.
12. "FA boss gives backing to McClaren". BBC Sport.
13. "Steve McClaren's managerial career". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2007-08-14.

External links

• Steve McClaren management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Official profile on TheFA.com
• Football Fans' Articles about Steve McClaren and England National Football Team
• Is this the poor man's Eriksson? Phil McNulty BBC Sport

• English footballers
• English football managers
• Hull City A.F.C. players
• Derby County F.C. players
• Lincoln City F.C. players
• Bristol City F.C. players
• Oxford United F.C. players
• England national football team managers
• Middlesbrough F.C. managers
• Premier League managers
• Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff
• UEFA Pro Licence holders
• People from York
• 1961 births
• Living people