Ram-ride safer than loony Toon
MAYBE it was loyalty. More likely it was pragmatism. Whatever his motivation, Steve McClaren has made the right decision to stay at Pride Park. After months of speculation that arguably jeopardised Derby’s season, the former England boss has rejected an offer to take charge at comedy club Newcastle.
Still, the 55-year-old must have been sorely tempted. Derby fans could forgive a desperately unlucky play-off final defeat in 2014. This season’s witless, twomonth capitulation from top of the table to eighth and out is less easily tolerated.
During the Rams’ fatal 3-0 defeat to Reading, a guy renowned as one of the finest coaches in the land was reduced to clapping his hands and plaintively yelling ‘Come on’, like a helpless supported in Row Z. The plot wasn’t just lost, it was chained up in a dungeon.
Was that due to the Newcastle rumours? I don’t think so. The Rams were top of the tree on February 26, a month after the chatter began. Mark Warburton announced his departure from Brentford in February, yet his players powered into the play-offs.
No, the real fault lies with a substandard back four who’ve shipped cheap goals all year, awful January signings like Raul Albentosa and Stephen Warnock, injuries to key players – Chris Martin, George Thorne – and the departure of Liverpool loanee Jordon Ibe.
Compounding the lot, of course, was McClaren’s frenzied and often incomprehensible tactical tinkering as he struggled to prevent Derby’s season sliding off a cliff. Defenders were shoved into midfield, strikers shunted to the wing; with confidence clearly shattered, it can’t have helped the players to see their leader thrashing around like he was sinking in quicksand. When McClaren replaced Nigel Clough in September 2013, he turned an average mid-table MASSIMO Cellino says he is
Neil “in love” with manager
spoken with Redfearn and has not
taking over at any other coach about Leeds.
the psychotic Which reminds me of
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before “Number One fan” seconds
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Now all that goodwill is gone. Patience, too. Having announced a three-year plan upon his arrival, McClaren will enter the last of those years under tremendous pressure to deliver a place in the Premier League. Anything less is likely to spell his ruin.
Which is why, had any other club in the Premier League thrown a lifeline, he’d probably have been off like a shot. But so toxic is the Newcastle hot-seat that not even a man with his head on the block would trade places.
Demanded
Like the rest of us, McClaren has looked at the Toon and can’t see where a point is coming from.
Relegation to the Championship looms large.
At St James’, there is no appetite for three-year plans. Instant promotion would be demanded, not expected.
Ultimately, then, the 55-year-old found himself at Morton’s Fork, a choice between two bad options both likely to lead to the same outcome.
But with a settled squad and a supportive chairman, Derby just about represents a lower chance of being skewered. And he can’t ask for much more right now...