The roller coaster ride that has been Steve McClaren's managerial career continues to push and pull the Englishman and former Middlesbrough manager in directions not currently associated with the easy path to success. A failed attempt at international football with England was met by an extremely successful year in the Dutch Eredivisie which witnessed McClaren take FC Twente all the way to the domestic title in 2009-10, their first ever.
Former England Manager Steve McClaren Faces Battle To Keep Wolfsburg Job
The Eredivisie success lead McClaren to the next rung back up the managerial ladder in the form of Germany's Bundesliga with 2008-09 Champions Wolfsburg. While McClaren's time thus far with the Lower Saxony club can only de described as a trough on that previously mentioned roller coaster ride - Wolfsburg currently maintain 13th position in the table and were recently booed off the field after losing 1-3 at home to Energie Cottbus in the DFB-Pokal - his recent comments to the press only stand to confirm his current state as Wolfsburg manager.
“This club needs changes. They may be drastic, but I cannot control them. I don’t know how these changes are going to look precisely. Nobody knows what will happen in the coming days. We have got to take a decision quickly. Now is the time, during the winter break, to clean things up”.
Just as McClaren was able to shed the “wally with the brolly” moniker he gained after England were humiliated at Wembley when they failed to qualify for Euro 2008 by winning the Dutch title with Twente, he now finds himself back in the muck and mire of quite possibly a relegation scrap with Wolfsburg, but more importantly, McClaren faces a fight to save his job.
As found on BBC Sport, McClaren further described his disappointment with his side after the Cup defeat at the hands of Cottbus, a side who were relegated from the Bundesliga last season.
“It was simply not good enough and the first half of the season was not good enough. I am disappointed, frustrated. We have problems in the dressing room, problems on the field. We have hit rock bottom”.
Bold words from McClaren who surely now is no stranger to a fight on the field. But while McClaren waxes bluntly on his situation, his boss, club managing director Dieter Hoeness has also spoken to the press regarding McClaren and the current state of affairs at Wolfsburg. Hoeness, when asked by a member of the German press if McClaren’s job was safe responded simply with: “I cannot say that yet”.
See More:
