JOB-SEEKING former football boss Steve McClaren has launched another charm offensive to keep himself in the public eye as the all important summer cattle market looms. After six months out to let the dust settle he appears ready to start polishing up his CV ready for the annual coach cull and hiring fair. He hasn't actually gone as far as stuffing A4 leaflet's through the letterboxes of chairmans' mansions offering "teams managed, football directed, no job too small, reasonable rates" but you feel it can't be far off.
McClaren dipped his toes in the jobs market water back in January when the Newcastle job was up for grabs but got no takers. Now he is putting out a reminder. His impervious toothy grin was given an outing earlier this week when he was given a high profile platform to advertise his wares and explain away that England misunderstanding through the haze of Gabby Logan's perfumed soft focus sychophancy on Inside Sport. Given the programme's currency among the core audience of sports suits and boardroom movers and shakers it was as close to an advertisement as the BBC charter allows.
Now he has taken his message to the market closer to home and granted an in-depth interview to Tyne Tees too. There was little in the way of contrition for the crimes against football that many of the more unforgiving in Teesside would like him dragged before a supporters court to answer, but he did say some nice things about Gibbo, Gareth and how fortunate he was to find a club ready and willing to give him the time and support to deliver what - and there is no escaping it - was Boro's most successful spell ever.
The interview runs to 30 minutes and is hard work in places when it gets overly self-serving but it has some illuminating moments, although those who still find themselves easily wound up by his foot-in-mouthisms should probably stick to the seven inch remix highlight package on the site.
The essence of the public information film, especially how it relates directly to Boro, has been distilled by Phil Tallentire in today's Evening Gazette. There are no Earth shattering revelations and don't expect a humbled man admitting too many mistakes - in fact he explicitly shrugs off the terrace sniping and misjudges what could be his own historical reputation - but it is an interesting read nevertheless.
I think the main arguments will break out over these these three statements, all of which I think are fundamentally true but raise a string of other more provocative questions and have the potential to pick at a few barely healed scabs.
"Clubs have a success threshold. We knew we couldn’t win the Premier League, we knew we couldn’t get into the Champions League, but Europe was a distinct possibility, winning a trophy was a distinct possibility and Steve was fantastic in giving us the resources to be able to do that."
"I believe, yes winning the Carling Cup huge, but success in Europe, taking Middlesbrough into Europe for me was the biggest achievement and my last game was a UEFA Cup final. We’ve seen since then with other English teams how difficult it is to progress in that tournament so, yes, I believe where we we took Middlesbrough was towards that success threshold."
"It (criticism) doesn’t bother me personally because I know what we achieved. I know as the years go on the appreciation is there. Players and staff within that club realise that was a great period. We had good players, a good squad and we achieved many things which we wanted to achieve and I think over the years that will be appreciated a lot more than it was at the time."
I think his record at Boro is impressive and unquestionable and history will judge him kindly when it comes to listing the achievements at the Riverside and that with England he did as well as could be expected given the limitations of an overhyped squad and overly inflated expectations from the media and the public.
But football is about more than just results. It is about a dynamic relationship, a feeling, a spirit. A successful club revolves around an intangible unity of team, boss and supporters. At both Boro and England he left fans frustrated, bored and poised to kick the TV screen in with every smiling post-match denial of reality. On that basis McClaren is damaged goods - not because of his pedigree but because of his persona.
His wooden charisma-lite presence is a major turn-off and given that public relations and media management is an essential element of the job, especially at the higher levels, that will count heavily against him. That and the public antipathy to a manager who never enjoyed an England honeymoon and who pretty much believes the background soundtrack to everyday life is booing.
Any chairman who takes the risk on appointing him runs the risk of an immediate and heartfelt public backlash. It will take a desperate man and a desperate club to offer Mac a job just now. We'll keep your CV on file Mr McClaren. We'll let you know if any suitable vacancy occurs.
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