3/1 To Win
Former England manager puts pen-to-paper with the Rams.
Derby County is this evening delighted to announce the appointment of former England manager Steve McClaren as its new Head Coach.McClaren, 52, has signed a two-and-half-year deal at Pride Park Stadium and will officially take up his new role at the club on Wednesday, after leaving his position on the coaching staff at Sky Bet Championship leaders Queens Park Rangers.
He will watch on from the stands for Derby’s home game with Ipswich Town on Tuesday evening and will officially take charge of his first match on Saturday (5th October), when the Rams take on Leeds United at Pride Park.
A former player with the Rams between 1985 and 1988 and a Second Division title-winner, McClaren also tasted success as Jim Smith’s assistant during the Rams’ promotion campaign to the top flight in the 1995/96 season.
He will be joined by two other ex-Derby players on what will be a new-look coaching set-up, with Paul Simpson (First-Team Coach) and Eric Steele (Goalkeeping Coach) also agreeing to return to the club.
Following the departure of Nigel Clough at the weekend, the Rams have continued their thorough review of the football operations at the club and as a result have opted to appoint McClaren as Head Coach, with a view to also appointing a Technical Director in the near future.
President and Chief Executive Sam Rush said: “We are thrilled to announce Steve McClaren as our new Head Coach as well as Paul Simpson and Eric Steele in their respective roles.
“When we announced the departure of Nigel Clough it was stated that we were conducting a comprehensive review of the football structure, and we believe this is a major step forward in that regard.
“Our goal is to have Derby County competing for a play-off place and beyond, and we feel with Steve and his team at the helm we have a great opportunity to do so.
“Steve is a highly qualified coach with all the skill-sets required to be a success here at Pride Park.
“He also has a network of contacts both on a European and global scale, and has also proved in the past that he can identify talent and develop it on the training ground, especially younger players, which is where our Academy comes into play and his working relationship with Darren Wassall is critical to our on-going success.
“It is also important that Steve, Paul and Eric know what it means to play for Derby County and they have been at the club during the good times.
“Steve was a driving force behind the club’s promotion under Jim Smith in the 1990s and you only have to look at his CV to discover what a hugely talented coach he is.”
He added: “We are very much looking forward to letting Steve get on with the job in hand and helping Derby County move in the right direction.”
As a player McClaren, a midfielder by trade, turned out for Hull City, Derby, Lincoln City, Bristol City and Oxford United before learning the coaching ropes at both Oxford and Derby, prior to joining Manchester United, where he worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson to help the Reds win a historic treble in the 1998/99 campaign.
After moving into management in 2001/02 at Middlesbrough, McClaren guided Boro to League Cup glory in 2003/04, and to the UEFA Cup Final in the 2005/06 campaign. He then replaced Sven Goran Eriksson as England manager in 2006, after previously holding a coaching role with the national team.
After leaving his post as Three Lions boss in 2007, he opted to broaden his coaching horizons by taking charge of Dutch Premier League side FC Twente, with whom he won the league with for the first time in their history during the 2009/10 campaign.
He went on to manage Wolfsburg during the 2010/11 season in Germany, where he gained Champions League experience as a manager, before returning to England for a very brief spell as manager of Nottingham Forest in 2011.
McClaren returned to Twente in early 2012 for 13 months prior to making a return to the game this season when Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp secured his services as First-Team Coach.
Meanwhile Simpson, who made over 800 career appearances and was with Derby between 1992 and 1997, making over 200 appearances and scoring 57 goals, has managerial experience from spells at Rochdale, Carlisle United, Preston North End, Shrewsbury Town, Stockport County and Northwich Victoria.
Steele, who recently left his role as Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach, held a similar position at Derby between 1997 and 2001, and has served a number of other clubs in his specialist role including Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers.
He was a player with the Rams between 1984 and 1987 and was part of the Division Three and Division Two promotion-winning sides under Arthur Cox.
Derby County will hold a press conference at Pride Park Stadium at 9am on Tuesday 1st October 2013 where McClaren will speak to the media for the first time.
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