This is not a post from the past, but very much one for today. It wasn’t just that the Middlesborough game played chez Highbury was so good (which it was) or that the Boro were so bad (they were fairly rough) it was that they were managed by a certain nutcase known as the McClaren.
What made me remember this game today was that McLaren has just got a job with FC Twente who will be in the Champs League next season, so I am told.
Now the point is that McClaren is beyond any doubt whatsoever anyhow anywhere at any time ever the worst manager in the history of the planet, the solar system, and the Galaxy. And probably Andromeda too.
At half time (and I am away from home so writing from memory which being of a Certain Age means it is not as good as it might once have been) we were 4-0 up in that game. Now any semi-human manager would have done everything possible to put his defence in order to keep the score reasonable. If there is a big clogging centre half on the bench aged about 33 who has broken legs in the past you bring him on, because sure as hell Pires and Henry would not bother to risk it against him. 4-0 up and that would do.
But the McClaren has none of that. He TAKES OFF some of his experienced players and brings on teenagers. Arsenal score 3 more and he says at the end, “We had five teenagers out there.”
Yes you did you total utter nutter, because at half time you brought three of them on.
Anyway, this glorious twirp then goes on to manage England, which I suppose is more or less what England deserve. And they fail. Big time. I mean really big BIG time. And the McClaren blames the pitch, the umbrella, the media, the banana he had for breakfast, everything except himself.
And now he has got a job in Holland, the country that is producing the most exciting football ever seen outside of Holland and the Arsenal. I have to say this for the Twente supporters, they have been up in arms about it and threatened a mass walk out. Good for you guys.
But if you support Ajax one thing is for sure. 6 points in the bag before the season starts.
Mr McClaren, I am sure you are reading this. I’ve never met you, and I am sure you would be awfully good as a maths teacher or a bus driver. But please, why must you inflict yourself on decent honest football fans who have never done anything to spoil your life except point out that as a football manager you are rubbish.
