McClaren sets out on solo mission

A fortnight after realising for certain that his long-term future did not lie at Manchester United, and seven days after Bryan Robson forsook the manager's chair at Middlesbrough, Steve McClaren yesterday left Old Trafford to fill the vacancy in the north-east and thus took a first step into management at the age of 40. He has signed a five-year contract.

McClaren stressed that it was with the approval and blessing of his former boss, Alex Ferguson, who now has to find a replacement for his last season in charge at United, but that did not prevent McClaren from hinting that the Old Trafford boardroom rumbling, which so concerns Ferguson, was a significant factor in one of the most highly-regarded coaches in Britain seeking a job elsewhere.

Middlesbrough, being almost wholly in the ownership of one individual, the chairman Steve Gibson, offers a more straightforward relationship for a first-time manager and McClaren said: "There's no board, just Steve Gibson to answer to, which makes a change.

"Someone once told me that the most important relationship at any football club is between the manager and the chairman and that was the icing on the cake here, that I could have that relationship with Steve Gibson. When I asked for advice within football his name was always mentioned in the highest esteem."

Asked if he felt he had anything to prove to Manchester United, McClaren replied: "Certainly not."

After the introductory press conference McClaren said that he had found out he was not considered of the required calibre to be Ferguson's successor at United "in a roundabout way. No specific thing was said, yes or no, it was left in the air.

"So, with one year left on my contract I had to secure my future. Once I discussed it with Sir Alex it made it that much easier with his blessing. That was vitally important. The relationship we've built up over 2-1/2 years is based on honesty. We've become very good friends."

McClaren did stress the good times he had had at United since succeeding Brian Kidd. He described his departure as "above board and amicable," and the decision to leave "the toughest of my career," but, keen to get to work at the Riverside, he attempted to close the United element of his career in two words: "That's history."

Whether he can now make some on Teesside is another matter, although he should receive similar financial backing from Gibson to that which Robson used to bring players like Juninho, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Alen Boksic to Boro. "Obviously resources were a big consideration," he said in response to a query as to what criteria he judged the relative merits of Middlesbrough, Southampton and West Ham.

McClaren said he had had productive talks with both the other Premiership clubs before hearing from Boro belatedly, but the likely £20 million at his disposal, "the tremendous chairman and the great infrastructure," swayed him toward Teesside. The fact that he is a Yorkshireman also figured.

"It's a clean sheet for everyone," he said of the squad he inherits from Robson, one that narrowly avoided relegation. "Over the next two weeks I'll be assessing it, but it is a very good squad, some world-class players and a good heart to it. I'm really looking forward to working with this group of players, I'm excited by that. I hope they are too. It's a new era."

If Robson will not be part of it there also seems little doubt that Terry Venables will not be around the place either. When asked yesterday if Venables would doing any further coaching, McClaren response was a firm: "No."

With Viv Anderson also paid off by Middlesbrough, McClaren has the scope to bring in his own back-room staff, something he was not going to be able to do at Southampton. "I always knew that if I ever did go into management that the staff and people around me off the field would be the most important," he said. Steve Harrison, infamous in football for being sacked for an indiscretion while with Graham Taylor at England, and now John Gregory's assistant at Aston Villa, is thought to be McClaren first appointment.

McClaren will continue to do what he does best, coaching, but said he is looking forward to making more of the tough decisions he has made over the past few weeks - demanding the end of Robson and Venables for a start. "The next step out of the comfort zone I call it, making big decisions, making tough decisions."

It appears he has won one other concession, a return to the coaching team of Sven Goran Eriksson. McClaren had been part of that and, with Peter Taylor, had picked the England side which played in Italy last November. United wanted a stop put to that international involvement. They got it.

Now, though, Boro have said England can have McClaren back. Whether United will ever want that situation remains to be seen. But, judging by McClaren's style and intelligence yesterday, it is fair to say that this was a bad day for Old Trafford.