Steve McClaren is explaining the differences he encountered between being No 2 to Sir Alex Ferguson at the turn of the millennium and assisting Erik ten Hag nearly a quarter of a century later.<\/p>\n
Players in 2022 scrutinised the Manchester United manager\u2019s decisions more than they did in 1999, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst question they ask, \u2018Can that man help us win football matches?\u2019. That\u2019s it. Not be my friend, not be this, not be that. Can you<\/em> win me<\/em> football matches? Every time you don\u2019t, they\u2019re looking at you going, \u2018Hmm, why are we doing this?\u2019. There probably isn\u2019t that automatic respect for coaches. The game\u2019s changed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n In this interview, McClaren will go on to talk about Bruno Fernandes being among the best five players he has encountered, how Kobbie Mainoo can add to his game, Casemiro\u2019s professionalism after his exit seemed certain, why Harry Maguire should be at the World Cup, and Diogo Dalot\u2019s rallying role after the 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace that, McClaren says, the team and staff \u201cshould have walked home from\u201d.<\/p>\n McClaren, 64, has plenty of experience to draw on. He assisted Sven-Goran Eriksson in three tournaments with England but failed to reach the 2008 European Championship as manager himself. At Middlesbrough, he won the League Cup and reached the UEFA Cup final. He then led Twente to the only Dutch league title in their 60-year history. Most recently, he managed Jamaica.<\/p>\n Under Ferguson\u2019s leadership, he coached United for a glorious two-and-a-half-year period that started with the treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, and finished with the third of three successive league titles.<\/p>\n Returning to United 21 years later as a key figure in Ten Hag\u2019s staff, McClaren lifted the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, helping towards a memorable victory over Manchester City at Wembley. But there was turbulence too, starting straight away with Cristiano Ronaldo.<\/p>\n \u201cErik tried to impose his style and that\u2019s why he had that fight with Ronaldo all the way through,\u201d McClaren says. \u201cI said to Erik, very early, \u2018It\u2019s you or him\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cRonaldo was generally OK. But he didn\u2019t want to do the job that Erik wanted him to do. Or didn\u2019t feel he was capable of doing it. The instructions out of possession were, \u2018Get into the middle, as soon as you\u2019re back, you\u2019re the first press, then double run, even a triple run now and again\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to say to Ronnie, \u2018If you want to play, that\u2019s what you\u2019ve got to do\u2019. He\u2019d argue, \u2018Ah, nobody wants to press\u2019. I\u2019d say, \u2018Well, they\u2019re all young lads, they can press\u2019.<\/p>\n \n Steve McClaren says Cristiano Ronaldo did not share Erik ten Hag\u2019s enthusiasm for pressing (Michael Regan\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s right that 11 players attack, 11 players defend. Not 11 players attack, 10 players defend. So I said, \u2018You have to run, it\u2019s simple, Ronnie. If you don\u2019t, you don\u2019t play\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe other managers have tried to adapt and accommodate to get the best out of him. The balance of that was significant. You\u2019ve probably got half the squad going, \u2018We think Ronnie\u2019s right\u2019, and half going, \u2018We think Erik is right\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, with Fergie, he was right or you were out. If you weren\u2019t with him and he knew it, you were gone. And that\u2019s the authority, the power that he had developed over years and years.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, the problems we had with Erik at the beginning, Fergie had exactly the same. He used to tell me stories about fighting all the drinkers. Fergie said, \u2018I fought them every day, Steve\u2019. I told him, \u2018I\u2019d have loved to have been your assistant at that time\u2019. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d have survived, but I\u2019d have loved it. The characters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Gaffer, Sir Alex, got time to do it. Erik didn\u2019t get the same time. In a way, I could believe it. But in some respects, I couldn\u2019t, because he won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking in 2022 to Piers Morgan about the pressing football that some coaches at United had desired, Ronaldo said: \u201cTo be honest, it\u2019s something that I don\u2019t understand. The new coaches that are coming around, they think they\u2019ve found the last Coca-Cola in the desert. I don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n \u201cI respect any coach that has a different approach or different mentality, but there are some points where you don\u2019t agree. I\u2019ve always been like that in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n McClaren is chatting over a Starbucks coffee at Leeds Skelton Lake services, a far cry from the feverish atmosphere of our last encounter in November. That was in the depths of the Jamaica National Stadium in Kingston, when McClaren resigned from his position in charge of the country\u2019s football team.<\/p>\n Jamaica had drawn 0-0 with Curacao to miss out on an immediate path to the World Cup, leaving 35,000 fans distraught, with some trying to get into the dressing room to confront McClaren and the players.<\/p>\n \u201cThe organisation wasn\u2019t good enough, and it was too late to really do anything about it,\u201d McClaren says now of the Jamaica setup. \u201cSo it was more frustration with that.<\/p>\n He points to his ankle, adding: \u201cAnd I was getting so sore with this, that I just needed it right.\u201d The injury restricted his coaching on the grass, his passion. \u201cMy ankle\u2019s good now, so I\u2019m feeling a lot better,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n In March, Jamaica, under interim head coach Rudolph Speid, failed to reach the World Cup at the second attempt, losing against DR Congo in the play-off final.<\/p>\n McClaren, meanwhile, made a three-man shortlist to take over the vacancy in charge of Ghana. The prospect of McClaren facing Thomas Tuchel\u2019s England in Foxboro, Massachusetts, in the second Group L game of the World Cup would have been a striking narrative arc, but Ghana went for Carlos Queiroz, who has his own United history, taking the role of Ferguson\u2019s assistant in 2002<\/p>\n Queiroz, 73, is the latest veteran manager to re-emerge, giving McClaren some encouragement that he can yet become a head coach again.<\/p>\n \u201cI look at what Roy Hodgson is doing (interim head coach at Bristol City aged 78), and Martin O\u2019Neill (74) at Celtic, and Curacao with Dick Advocaat (before the 78-year-old resigned in February), and I\u2019m going, \u2018Jesus Christ\u2019. But then you get over a certain age and no one thinks, \u2018We\u2019ll give him a job\u2019. They\u2019re all young bucks now, aren\u2019t they? But now I\u2019ve sorted my ankle, I still have the energy to coach a club or national team again,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Stepping into the studio holds little appeal. \u201cUrgh, not punditry. I don\u2019t mind doing the occasional podcast, they\u2019re entertaining. But I only want to talk about tactics and how the game\u2019s going. I still love all that.\u201d<\/p>\n Recently, he has contributed to a television programme on England\u2019s \u2018golden generation\u2019, sparking conversations with former midfielder Owen Hargreaves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could never solve the Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes situation. Which one do you take out? We could have got Owen as a \u2018six\u2019 (holding midfielder). But recently, Owen said to me, \u2018Steve, I wouldn\u2019t have picked me ahead of them\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Appearing on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast with Scholes, McClaren heard about the rifts in camp. \u201cI thought the players got on great,\u201d he reflects. \u201cAnd then Scholesy comes out with some stories. Wow, really? I didn\u2019t realise that.\u201d<\/p>\n He does recall an encounter with Ferguson from his time in charge at Middlesbrough that touched on the club-vs-country issue. \u201cUnited were playing Middlesbrough at Old Trafford in a game before an international break. I thought, \u2018I\u2019ll say hello to him\u2019. Knocked on the door in his office. I was Middlesbrough manager but assistant with Sven. \u2018Hi, Gaffer.\u2019 All United\u2019s England players were sat around. He went, \u2018Don\u2019t think you\u2019re getting any of these lads\u2019. He was half-joking but he was having a word with them.\u201d<\/p>\n McClaren can track other changes that have happened across his time in football. \u201cThe modern game is becoming mechanical,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are losing the flair of that No 10, creative, can see things, your Brunos. I went to see Manchester City recently, Rayan Cherki, amazing, he can do things that make you go, \u2018Oh my god\u2019. He is driving the team mad, but I love those players. Yorkie (Dwight Yorke) was the same, all flicks.\u201d<\/p>\n McClaren has coached several United legends but he ranks Fernandes highly. \u201cI remember his first game at Old Trafford, he picked out long balls and diagonals. I thought, \u2018Missing link\u2019. He wants to do everything. He\u2019s really one of the top five players I\u2019ve coached,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got scrolls of vision, that je ne sais quoi<\/em>. I\u2019ve seen things in training, you go, \u2018Wow\u2019. His attitude, his professionalism is first class. He\u2019s first in, last away. Last on the pitch, doing shooting, practising all day to be better. His personality is great. At times, emotional.<\/p>\n \u201cWe only clashed once. He didn\u2019t clap the fans, so we had a bit of a row about that. I think it was Newcastle\u2019s win 3-0 at Old Trafford (Carabao Cup fourth round, November 2023). I was more upset with the team and the players. It was bad, but the next day we kissed and made up. He is excellent with fans 99 per cent of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Steve McClaren shows his frustration as Bruno Fernandes walks away after the 3-0 defeat against Newcastle United in 2023 (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That edge, McClaren argues, is essential to Fernandes\u2019 game, in the same way as Roy Keane had to play with fire in his belly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had one spell when we said to Roy, \u2018You\u2019ve got to calm down a bit\u2019. Because it was beginning to be a problem. Through the trouble he got into, he used to miss five or six games a season,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cHe tried to calm down, and he was rubbish. So we said, \u2018Forget that, be yourself, it\u2019s all right, we\u2019ll miss you for five games, don\u2019t want you to be a pussycat on the field\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Bruno is the same. When I used to have to be the referee in training, he\u2019s a nightmare. It\u2019s just passion. He\u2019s fit, he runs around, he scores, he assists, his numbers are phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Steve McClaren coached Roy Keane during the peak of his career at Manchester United (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Fernandes is one assist away from equalling the Premier League record held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. His pass to Mainoo in the 2024 FA Cup final, McClaren\u2019s last United game, stands out as one of the best in his career.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to see that every week in training,\u201d McClaren counters. \u201cBetter than that. I\u2019d think, \u2018How did you see that?\u2019. That\u2019s what Bruno has. Scholesy had that too. \u2018Never saw that\u2019, I\u2019d say to people.\u201d<\/p>\n Equally, McClaren could not see a way back for Ten Hag and his staff after United got thumped at Selhurst Park in May 2024. \u201cCrystal Palace? I said to the staff, \u2018We should all be walking home. We don\u2019t deserve to even get on a coach, definitely not a plane\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think we\u2019d survive Palace but once we got to the Arsenal game the following week, it was different. Performance was good, players were together.\u201d United lost that next Premier League game 1-0 but showed fight.<\/p>\n McClaren continues: \u201cThere were a few days where I\u2019d seen the lads realise, \u2018No excuses now\u2019. There was a shift with the players. I tell you who was at the forefront of that: Diogo. He was excellent. He was really close with Ronaldo. It was a yin and yang. He was always positive. Intelligent. He\u2019d say, \u2018It\u2019s on us\u2019. He used to rally the troops, with Bruno.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Steve McClaren says it was Diogo Dalot who rallied United in one of their lowest moments (Nick Potts\/PA Images via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n McClaren watched from the balcony over the gym as players, led by Fernandes and Dalot, started using the activation area before training for two-touch football in a circle. \u201cA bit of fun, laughing. I used to sit looking over, going, \u2018Oh, OK, players are taking it upon themselves\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could see that against Arsenal. To be fair to Erik, he realised it wasn\u2019t working. \u2018Stats are saying we can\u2019t press high, so maybe it\u2019d be better to be compact\u2019. That was the first adjustment. The players were going, \u2018We\u2019ll have this, it\u2019ll work\u2019. They bought into it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGetting the Arsenal game was really good. Everyone kind of went, \u2018Listen to Erik, win the FA Cup, and then we can ride off into the sunset\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Beating City at Wembley meant the sunset lingered longer than most expected. \u201cIt was a great game tactically,\u201d says McClaren.<\/p>\n Ten Hag surprised people by dropping Casemiro in place of Sofyan Amrabat. Casemiro then withdrew from the squad due to the injury he had been managing.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought Erik and him coming back for pre-season was a miracle,\u201d admits McClaren. \u201cBut Casemiro was the best trainer. Never said a word about the final. Attitude was great.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Erik ten Hag and Steve McClaren after winning the FA Cup (Michael Regan\/The FA via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n By then, former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy had arrived as an assistant, with Ten Hag shuffling his coaching staff. \u201cRuud helped out, he had that stature. He could speak Spanish or Portuguese to Casemiro. Every day I watched Casemiro train, I went, \u2018That\u2019s why he\u2019s at the top\u2019. And now he\u2019s still playing for Brazil and will be at the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n Mainoo is another player who should be in North America this summer, given his form since Michael Carrick arrived in January.<\/p>\n McClaren was blown away when he first saw Mainoo aged 17. \u201cHe came out of nowhere and Erik suddenly went, \u2018He\u2019s training with us\u2019,\u201d says McClaren. \u201cThat\u2019s totally down to Erik. I remember him saying first day, \u2018Watch him\u2019. I couldn\u2019t believe it, never gave the ball away. Strong as an ox. Then Erik played him. I went, \u2018He\u2019s terrific\u2019. He was Erik\u2019s kind of player, in terms of build-up from the back and being able to take the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Viewing Mainoo as a connector, McClaren feels the 21-year-old can still improve. \u201cI want him to be more authoritative on the field, even when he plays for England,\u201d says McClaren. \u201cHe is neat and tidy. But he is capable of imposing himself more. He wants to be top, top. Casemiro has helped him.\u201d<\/p>\n McClaren, who assisted Eriksson as England reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006, is not sure how Tuchel\u2019s side will fare in the United States, Canada and Mexico. \u201cI was pretty confident until I saw them against Japan (1-0 defeat) and Uruguay (1-1 draw) the other day,\u201d he says. \u201cBut Harry Kane didn\u2019t play, so that\u2019s a big difference. They\u2019re all right. Defence I worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n McClaren would select two United players in that area of the squad. \u201cI\u2019d take Luke Shaw with Harry Maguire, you have to,\u201d he says. \u201cEven if Maguire is a sub. You bring him on for 20 minutes and stick him up front, what a weapon, in each box.<\/p>\n \u201cI hear Tuchel say set plays are going to be a big part of the World Cup and I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Harry has got to be first on the list\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in his time with England, McClaren coached Carrick. \u201cHe was very quiet, very intelligent,\u201d he reflects. \u201cAssertive.\u201d<\/p>\n Carrick is using that mentality to guide United back into the Champions League for the first time in three years. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of great being the interim,\u201d says McClaren. \u201cYou can say, \u2018They\u2019re the players I\u2019ve got, what else do you expect me to do? I\u2019m working wonders with them\u2019. Michael has proved he can do that. He proved he could do that with Middlesbrough in the first season. I remember watching them going, \u2018Mmm, that\u2019s good, I like what he\u2019s doing\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Maintaining success, as McClaren knows well, is a different challenge entirely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/30124752\/GettyImages-1413419485-scaled.jpg\")
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