Ten things to know about Steve McClaren
By PA Sports
Last updated May 5 2006
1. The England job's a birthday present. McClaren was born in Fulford, York, on May 3, 1961 and celebrated his 45th birthday on Wednesday, May 3 - the day before the announcement at Soho Square.
2. He can be a bit dodgy at the back. McClaren's modest playing career, which took him from Hull to Derby, Lincoln, Bristol City and Oxford, was ended at the age of just 27 by a back injury.
3. He's costing more in transfer fees as a coach than as a player. It's understood England will give Middlesbrough about £1.5million for snatching McClaren away from the Riverside and even Derby had to pay Oxford £30,000 in compensation in 1995 when Rams boss Jim Smith decided he wanted him as his assistant.
4. Steve Who? When McClaren arrived at Manchester United as Brian Kidd's replacement he was a relative unknown and United chairman Martin Edwards introduced him as "Steve McClaridge".
5. He wasn't that bad a player. McClaren may be described as a 'journeyman pro', but at his first club, Hull City, he was labelled Steve 'BB' McClaren, the 'BB' standing for 'Ball Boy' in recognition of his skills on the ball.
6. Give him a break, McClaren's got all his badges. Steve's first organised football experience was winning his team-game badge playing for his cubs side, St Thomas. The troop were based in a hut just behind the family home in Vyner Street, York, in the shadow of the Rowntrees factory where they make the chocolate biscuits called KitKats.
7. He's on the road to glory. McClaren has a broad range of experience with coaches. In his early days, as youth team coach at Oxford United, the future England manager once got off the team bus to help change a wheel.
8. Can he stand the heat when it gets hot in the kitchen? McClaren's calm exterior belies a temper - he once had to pay Delia Smith's Norwich to repair a dressing room door after seeing his Middlesbrough side squander a 4-1 lead at Carrow Road.
9. Despite a dour reputation, he has a sense of humour. McClaren insisted after his side's remarkable 4-1 UEFA Cup semi-final win over Steaua Bucharest, which came four days after they were beaten at the same stage of the FA Cup by West Ham, that he had not even considered the implications of losing both games, before adding under his breath: "Liar".
10. Young Steve has an educational first. McClaren had the choice of two York grammar schools after passing his eleven plus examination and chose Nunthorpe over Archbishop Holgate because they played more football. Nunthorpe has produced one other footballer of note in Marco Gabbiadini but McClaren was the 'first' boy from the school to play football professionally
