Preview: As the English football season is drawing to a close, a look-back at the season that was is always common. Depending on which angle one is looking at. From the managerial viewpoint is one example. But before we know which clubs will be in the Europa League next season after next week in view of the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Everton and whichever clubs we will probably have to say a farewell to after West Bromwich Albion confirmed they will be going down...does it occur to one's mind an English manager is rebuilding his reputation beyond the English shores? What has really happen to the one-time England gaffer Steve McClaren in Holland? In the latest unofficial football focus series, yours truly decides to attempt to track down on how McClaren had been doing with his current side FC Twente.
I have always believe in second chances in football management. Martin Jol, Juande Ramos (alright, Real Madrid might had lost to Barcelona in the La Liga title race but, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager under his current employers once gave Barcelona a run for their money) are good examples. Steve McClaren is also another good shout. Don't laugh. The one-time England gaffer is now among the toast of Dutch football, to the extent he had been rumoured to be in the running for the vacant Ajax coaching position.
How about this since Steve McClaren had been chased out of England after the national team never qualified for the Euro 2008 tournament - With FC Twente, he had led them to second place in the Eredivisie (only AZ Alkmaar is ahead of them and their coach Louis van Gaal is heading to Bayern Munich in the summer) and unluckily, lost to Heerenveen in the Dutch Cup final last Sunday. The club also did decently well in Europe - last 16 of the UEFA Cup. But still, it has been good for Steve McClaren's debut season in Holland where he is in the running for the coach of the year award in Holland (van Gaal is in the running for that too) which will be handed out tomorrow and even Dutch football legend Johan Cyruff is a fan of his work at FC Twente. Yes, Cyruff. When even a legend is praising the man many see in England as destroying their summer last year (England's no-show at Euro 2008)...McClaren have really gone places in Holland. It always gives me the goosebumps as an England supporter myself, even if the England days under McClaren were rather forgettable.
As much as being linked to the Ajax job is quite an honour and a sign that his first season in Holland is just simply remarkable, it actually gives me the shudders at the same time to think Steve McClaren had been linked to it. Will he be able to survive in an environment like Ajax? He is doing fine and well at FC Twente already, defying the critics back in England. Does he want to mess up his credentials? Meanwhile, Ajax's apparent preferred candidates had been deleting themselves one by one. Louis van Gaal will be heading to Bayern Munich in the summer from AZ Alkmaar (and ironically enough, he was the last coach who led Ajax to European glory in the 1995 Champions League), Ronald Koeman will take over van Gaal's place at AZ Alkmaar, Co Adriaanse will only be considering his future after his term at Austria side Red Bull Salzburg ends, Guus Hiddink will be fully concentrating on his Russia job after the Chelsea stint ends, Michael Laudrup withdrew himself out of the race in view of his command of the Dutch language (the Danish legend did had a playing stint at Ajax), Frank Rijkaard turned it down. Even current Ajax technical director Danny Blind's first spell as Ajax coach was rather questionable. Anyhow, the whispers had been going around that Denmark coach Morten Olsen (who was actually Louis van Gaal's successor at Ajax when van Gaal went to Barcelona) is in the frame once again, after initially being silent about the link out of respect for his current employers at the Danish FA.
Coming back to the man who is doing well at FC Twente. I still remembered the sceptism back in England on why Steve McClaren is heading there. Maybe a sign of weariness of what he did with the England national team and FC Twente is not a known name in Engand. But I still remember Twente chairman Joop Munsterman back then saying they were aware of McClaren's England record but, it was his club record which landed him the job. The highs with leading unfancied Middlesbrough all the way to the 2006 UEFA Cup final. McClaren's major managerial achievement, apart from being the one-time assistant to a certain Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. It so happened at that time Fred Rutten went to Schalke (since then, he never lasted the entire season in the Bundesliga and by next season, will be the new PSV Eindhoven coach). But since Rutten left for Germany, while his reputation took a nose-dive in the Bundesliga, his successor at Twente's reputation had risen. The secret of McClaren's resurgence? It does depend on who you ask. But, the former England coach did not do much in regards to the club structure.
Fred Rutten had laid a very good foundation at FC Twente before he went to Germany. His best achievement before his ill-fated stint in the Bundesliga: Leading the club to Champions League qualifications for the first time in their history. Steve McClaren just took on from there, and made an early return to England when they were being drawn against Arsenal. After that, the next prominent 'appearance' was a Dutch TV interview which became rather infamous in England, in view of his Dutch accent. Or the attempt to. It made big news in England, but not as big as in Holland. From then on, it became a source of joke and the most easiest target of attack on the former England coach at least from the English perspective. And it always makes me sigh. The man himself is actually doing well with his current employers FC Twente in Holland and people rather remember him in regards to his post-England days by that attempted Dutch accent of his?
Everytime people had tried to talk or write Steve McClaren down, he had managed to rebuild his reputation in a country which they have always love their football. Even if the Eredivisie is being seen somewhat like a 'feeder' league of sorts to the major ones in England, Italy, Spain, Germany. While I am frustrated with a former assistant who is now the coach of the German national team and the work he is doing, there goes a former England assistant who is actually among the toast of Dutch football. An Englishman whom the Dutch footballing public have eventually taken a liking to even if they were also initially sceptical like the English public in view of his England record, and it is good because contary to popular thinking, Sir Bobby Robson was actually never really well-liked in Holland during his two stints at PSV Eindhoven. But then, it was on Sir Bobby's advice McClaren went to Holland. The fact that Johan Cyruff once said something about how other clubs should be playing their football like FC Twente (mentioned in the second part of the pod in a discussion about Dutch football, the main subject was about AZ Alkmaar's league title win not since 1981)...you get the idea. Twente's second spot in the Eredivisie this season actually equalled their best-ever record in the 1973/1974 season. It was also second place then.
How about this for a review on Steve McClaren's first season report card, Eredivisie-wise. Not in 50 years have any of Holland's traditional 'big three' take the top two spots. You don't find either Ajax, PSV Eindhoven or even Feyenoord there in the top two this season. After his side FC Twente is second, Ajax is third...and their coach Marco van Basten resigned out of his own accord with a match to go in view of his own performances in his first club coaching job after coaching the Dutch national team. That was how Steve McClaren is being dragged into the discussion over who should replace van Basten. The man himself might be squashing those rumours of him heading to Ajax after the loss to Heerenveen in the Dutch Cup final but, one of the selling points in his first season in Holland is that he played in a Dutch-style flexible 4-3-3 system with his current side. 4-3-3...that is exactly what Ajax wants in its new coach. But McClaren's major honours until the Twente job was leading Middlesbrough to a League Cup win in England and then the UEFA Cup final in 2006. Of a sudden comparing with the situation Middlesbrough are finding themselves at the moment with their Premier League future still uncertain heading into the final matchday of the season on Sunday, it does puts things into perspective. But, um...Ajax?
To be honest when I first read that his side FC Twente went to the Dutch Cup final, I was not too surprised. Steve McClaren is a cup man himself from his Middlesbrough days. Maybe he was never really ready to be England coach but, he had still managed to prove that even though a highly-regarded coach of his new employers headed elsewhere (Fred Rutten), there is actually life after Rutten at FC Twente after all. McClaren's current side even beat Schalke in the UEFA Cup when Rutten was still there. When just on the financial side of things, Schalke's budget is way more higher than Twente's. Consider that. But already then, Rutten was under-fire in Germany at Schalke.
FC Twente chairman Joop Munsterman might had been proud of the work the former England coach is doing at his club after Fred Rutten left, but even Munsterman once said himself on a Dutch talk show when asked whether his coach would be staying on for the second and final year of his contract, "I certainly hope so … But I can't predict [how long he will stay], it's football." I know what Munsterman meant, considering I once watched when Twente was hosting newly-crowned Eredivisie champions AZ Alkmaar (Twente won 3-0, and they were guaranteed of heading into the Champions League qualification rounds once again next season) and one of the many scenes after the final whistle, the cameras aimed at the two men hugging each other. It would had been impossible for that to happen if McClaren stayed around in English football after his ill-fated England tenure, had him took on the Blackburn job. Paul Ince took it, and along the way...his reputation had dented somewhat and now Sam Allardyce had managed to keep the club going into the next season still in the Premier League.
For those who once scorned at Steve McClaren's choice of heading to Holland after his failed England stint, look how he has done in his first season there with his current employers. I had always knew he would manage to find a way to answer those critics back home. Sure, he might not had won anything or rather he came close to it...I am saluting the man for being brave enough of heading to another country where English is not the first language but still widely spoken. The Dutch have always been proficient in English. And maybe the man himself may not be aware of it, he is leading the way of English managers who are having redemption this season.
Harry Redknapp's stint at Southampton was forgettable but, his time at Portsmouth and now Tottenham Hotspur had shown that it is still possible for an English manager working his way around in the Premier League. Roy Hodgson had always been highly regarded on the European continent from his time at Italy with Inter Milan, his time as Switzerland coach ended years of international wilderness for its national team in international tournaments...but his last English stint at Blackburn was not something to shout about. Now after Fulham had did their own 'great escape' in the previous season, they are just lurking around the corner in regards to an European spot next season and Roy Hodgson should take some credit for the transformation. When Sam Allardyce first arrived at Blackburn, they were almost doomed for relegation. Now, they are not. Steve McClaren? They really do like him in Holland now. Maybe more than when Sir Bobby Robson was at PSV Eindhoven.
It might had really surprised the English public of how much Steve McClaren is being regarded these days in Dutch football but, whatever the man himself used to say of his decision of heading to Holland apart from Sir Bobby Robson's advice...it put things into perspective. This, “It’s not for nothing that hundreds of Dutch coaches work abroad and only a handful of English ones do. It’s a coaching culture over here.” His AZ Alkmaar counterpart will be heading to Germany in the summer. Louis van Gaal will be heading Bayern Munich after leading AZ Alkmaar to their league title not since 1981. Now that is a strong indication in itself of how Dutch coaches have always been in demand elsewhere. Even if the Germans will always like to remind their neighbours across the border that Dutch coaches do not have a good track record in the Bundesliga...whatever it may be to spice up the Dutch-German footballing rivalry.
And Steve McClaren has this to say for his fellow compatriots, “I always said I wanted to work abroad and if other English coaches are going to get experience in European competition, they are probably going to have to do the same.” McClaren actually took up Spanish classes before the FC Twente job came along. Non-British managers in the Premier League hindering the prospects of a managerial career? Don't grumble about it, and go learn a new language...whatever it may be. The job prospects will be enhanced.
