Steve McClaren, good coach, average manager and eternal optimist
Steve McClaren has always been a resilient, positive character but even he had his patience tested when mocked up on the tabloid back-pages as Bungle, the rather clumsy bear from the children’s TV series Rainbow, in 2007.
News that McClaren now leaves Manchester United to become Jamaica’s head coach stirs even more admiration for his resilience. United bring in other coaches, so McClaren moves on, loyally completing his duties for Erik ten Hag first. He takes adversity in his stride, and smiles at his critics. But Bungle infuriated him. And confused him.
He was England’s head coach at the time, a bizarre decision by the FA, who appointed him when Big Phil Scolari turned them down. England stumbled along under McClaren, and drew in Israel before heading to Spain to face Andorra in the Montjuic stadium.
McClaren spoke to us on a tarmac-melting Catalan afternoon on the eve of the game, the heat was on, not least in qualifying for Euro 2008. McClaren mentioned defiantly it was now the “rainbow” came out. It made some sense, finding some beauty and hope in the rain, but immediately led to exotic back-page headlines and imagery around the rainbow theme. The Mirror depicted McClaren as Bungle.