why would the playboys take any notice of the guy from Middlesboro who never won anything.
Apart from that league cup
Other than that all he did was take Boro to their highest league finish ever, 7th in the prem, into Europe for the first time in their history, in a run to the UEFA cup final, and a couple of FA cup semi-finals.
That's piss poor for a giant of the English game like Middlesborough isn't it?
The man isn't a shit coach for fuck sake. Sir Alex doesn't appoint shit coaches to his staff.
It's all very well you all slagging the guy off, just like Sven was castigated when he was sacked as well. It's fucking easy to just blame the manager.
It was Svens fault for playing a dull rigid 442 system that stifled the players flair a year or so ago. Now, all of a sudden it's Mac's fault for failing to play them in that 442 system.
When are you just going to accept that the players just aren't that good?
I'm afraid that disciplined but slightly tedious and uncreative 442 that Sven had them playing was probably all this lot can manage. Sven played that system because he recognised their limitations.
It brought you guaranteed qualification and a few QF and SF finishes which was probably a fair reflection of your actual standing in international football.
You stalled at that point repeatedly not because the coaches weren't imaginative enough to take them any further, but because tha players weren't fucking good enough.
You lost to Brazil in that semi because Brazil were fucking better than you. Why is that so difficult for people to believe?
You lost to Croatia last night because
1. without your first choice players in Ferdinand, Terry and Cole your defence was fucking woeful (the alledgedly second best English left back in the country reminded me of Jason Drysdale.)
2. your supposedly "world class" midfield was only able to create a single clear cut goal scoring chance.
3. up front, without owen and rooney, who both seem to spend more time injured than playing, you've got very few options.
So they were better than you!
Get over it.
Actually, it is piss poor for Middlesboro considering their support, newish stadium etc., and that the top team don't even want to bother with the League Cup. Even the UEFA cup is a second tier competition for the top clubs. Ever been to a Middlesboro home game?
Ferguson stated in public that McClaren should not have been appointed, because he didn't have the experience. Sven and McClaren wimped out of the last World Cup, they may as well have not bothered going. The last World Cup was piss poor as far as the England games went, but presumably the FA were happy with that. Yes, they got out of their group into the knock-out part of the competition, but all they produced was tedium, scattered by Beckham doing something exceptional.
There is much more to being the England manager than being a good coach. With the clubs being bigger than country, it takes qualities above being able to coach. This wasn't just about the home game against Croatia, this is about the entire set of qualification games, mostly against mediocre opposition. Look what Scotland achieved, FFS.
I shouldn't blame McClaren, I should have blamed the FA for turning down better candidates like O'Neil or Curbishly, who now don't want anything to do with the incontinent buffoons. England have been a disappointment for forty years. After Brian Clough didn't get the job, I gave up on the FA. Their mis-mangement of English football has been monumental.
