Steve McClaren Officially Returns As FC Twente Manager

Steve McClaren has been officially hired as FC Twente manager, replacing the recently fired Co Adriaanse and returning to the club he led to their first ever Dutch Eredivisie title in 2010. He left after winning the title for Germany and Wolfsburg, but he was fired after only a year and has been unemployed since resigned after a short stint with Nottingham Forest.

“I left, obviously, on a high with the title. I said at that time that I would be back. I didn’t know when, but I would be back,” McClaren told Sky Sports News. “The club is still developing, still growing and I think this is an ideal opportunity for me to go back and finish what we were starting.”

Twente are in third place in the Eredivise, five points behind first place AZ Alkmaar and four points behind second place PSV Eindhoven. McClaren will be tasked with bringing some discipline into a squad that could play reckless at times. Too often they have lacked the ability to control a match in the midfield, something that McClaren will look to fix with a more flexible team that isn’t so dead set on attacking at all costs.

“I know the club very well. I know the people at the top. I can work with the people at the top. I think that is the most important thing,” McClaren said. “I had a good relationship with them the last time. I know where the club is coming from. I know what their vision is. I know what their ambitions are. It is still there. That was the key thing for me.”

There has been talk that the club would sell top scorer Luuk de Jong to one of the big clubs that has shown interest in the 21-year-old striker, but McClaren has already made it clear that they will keep de Jong unless presented with an overwhelming offer. With de Jong and Janko, Twente have more than enough firepower in the attack and with some cohesion in the midfield could challenge for the league title.