Source: Daily_Mail
EXCLUSIVE: Steve McClaren is back: Former England manager rebuilds his career in Holland
He was hugged like a hero. As one country was engrossed by events at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening, on a muddy touchline in the east of the Netherlands another was witnessing Steve McClaren take another step forward as he recovers from his career-crushing experience of managing England.[LNB] Here on the outskirts of Enschede, close to the German border and a long way from Amsterdam, never mind Wembley, McClaren's FC Twente defeated Ajax for only the second time in six years to preserve Twente's lead at the top of the Dutch league. [LNB] Twente something: Steve McClaren's club are sitting pretty at the top of the Dutch championship[LNB]'A top game between two top teams,' a smiling McClaren said after his side's 1-0 success. He was feeling top.[LNB] Understandably so. The atmosphere inside Twente's tight, dark stadium had been pulsating. Win, lose or draw the players of Twente partake in a lap of gratitude to their fans and this one was greeted like an FA Cup semi-final victory.[LNB] 'It's a breakthrough for us,' McClaren added, 'but it's only November.' [LNB]Yet the win separated Twente from third-place Ajax by six points and what could be felt was that the 48-year-old Yorkshireman had brought belief to the town of Enschede: the belief that 84 years after its one and only league title, a second could arrive next May.[LNB] On the final whistle, directors, coaches, players and fans made for McClaren and enveloped him.[LNB] This mainly agricultural region, where people proclaim themselves 'Proud to be Tukkers', senses a shift. 'From the wheat God made Twente people,' a massive banner declared, 'From the chaff he made the West.' And their leader is McClaren.[LNB] The man himself looked both thrilled and exhausted by the result. McClaren shared a joke with Ajax manager Martin Jol after their joint press conference and then recognised the comparison with Middlesbrough's euphoric UEFA Cup comebacks against Steaua Bucharest and Basle three and a half years ago. [LNB]'It was a bit like that, wasn't it?' he said. Around him, his happy coaches offered congratulations. 'Clean sheets! Clean sheets!' they laughed, parroting McClaren's defensive mantra.[LNB] Then this man, who has received almost only media mockery in England for the past two years, stayed in the press room to chat, on and off the record, bottle of beer in hand. Was this evidence of a newly relaxed McClaren? He disagreed.[LNB] End of his reign: Steve McClaren, the 'wally under the brolly', looks on as England lose to Croatia[LNB] 'Relaxed? I wasn't relaxed watching that game. I'm not away with the fairies. I'm harder, more focused, determined.'[LNB] The move abroad, so rare for an English coach, has paid off, to the extent where Jaap Stam said: 'He's doing very well and I'm surprised he is not working in England. Steve does not just seem to be a success in Holland, he is a success. You can see the club here is building a good team, he's doing exceptionally well.[LNB] 'Twente phoned me and asked how Steve was as a coach because I'd worked with him at Manchester United. I told them to take him because he's very good. At United he worked with us on the pitch and you could see he loved football. I'm sure he can work at a higher level.'[LNB] Maybe McClaren will one day, and perhaps it will be in England, but after a career trajectory that launched him into the England job after one stint as a club manager, this still-ambitious man has taken to stating: 'I'm not planning my career now. Who knows what the next challenge is?'[LNB] Success at Twente will never erase that umbrella image but it might return some balance to the perception of McClaren. Whatever he did after Croatia, disdain was going to follow him. Imagine if things were not going well in Holland.[LNB] 'The first job after England was going to be a risk because the spotlight was there waiting for me,' he said. 'But I saw it as a challenge, something different.[LNB] [LNB]High times: Steve McClaren celebrates Manchester United's PremierLeague title success with Sir Alex Ferguson[LNB] 'Once I came here I felt I could do this. Bobby Robson said: "Go, and go on your own, don't take anyone." He told me the coaches are great, the football is great, it's a football country. he told me I'd love it. So far, so good.'[LNB] Just as he had to follow a local hero in Bryan Robson on Teesside, McClaren succeeded another in Enschede in Fred Rutten when he arrived the summer before last. Rutten left a squad that had reached a Champions League qualifier and it was McClaren's luck that Arsenal, just as they were at Middlesbrough, were his first opposition.[LNB] 'It was difficult, not just coming here, but because the previouscoach, Fred Rutten, was a big hero. He got them into the ChampionsLeague and it was a case of: "Follow that." And we lost some players.So it was important that we started well.[LNB] 'I wondered about thestandard at the beginning but the only gauge I could have was how wedid in Europe. We were in the Champions League and we played Arsenal inour first game. We did OK for an hour, the second game we werehammered. We entered the UEFA Cup and beat Rennes to get in and theywere a good team. In the group stages we played Man City, we lost 3-2but it was a great game. I thought, "We can cope". Then we beat Schalketo get to the knockout stages. We got knocked out by Marseille, but wewon in Marseille and got beaten 1-0 here and went out on penalties.[LNB] 'The standard is good. This is miles better (than the Championship), but it's different football. This was a top game today, competitive, not many chances. The tempo is slower than England but that means you have to think a little more. They pride themselves here on good coaches, they're very clever tactically.' He declined to include himself in that but, having finished second in his first season, Twente recently extended his contract by a year.[LNB] Stam's presence was a reminder that it is 10 years since McClaren helped coach United to the Treble. There was also the League Cup triumph and UEFA Cup final with Boro, all before England.[LNB] 'It's just experience,' he said. 'I have had good experiences as well as bad ones. I've worked at the top and with top players. Sometimes you don't know how, but you use that experience every day. I'm just what I've learnt - good and bad.'[LNB] At Twente's atmospheric De Grolsch Veste stadium they have started playing Bruce Springsteen's 'Working On a Dream' prior to kick-off. McClaren is too much of a pragmatist to indulge in that sort of language but, game by game in the east of the Netherlands, he is piecing together an act of international rescue upon himself and his reputation. [LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People:Martin Jol, Bruce Springsteen, Alex Ferguson, Steve McClarenPlaces:Amsterdam, United Kingdom, Croatia, The Netherlands, Europe
