In the two places where Steve McClaren has enjoyed success and won silverware, Middlesbrough and Enschede, it did not start well. Any Newcastle United fan – or director – seeking a straw to clutch could return to Boro in 2004 and FC Twente in 2010 and view pictures of McClaren holding the League Cup and Eredivisie title.
At Middlesbrough, fresh from being Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United, McClaren lost the first four matches and did not see his team score in the first three. “Pointless and clueless” shouted the News of the World. At Twente, McClaren, tainted by the England failure, took six games to find a win. Twente lost a Champions League qualifier to Arsenal.
But at both clubs McClaren persevered. At both clubs he was afforded the time to do so. At both he had boardroom support too. Last year, while Derby manager, McClaren reviewed his Boro years and declared: “My God, how did I survive?” The answer was Steve Gibson’s patience. The question being asked on Tyneside is whether McClaren will again benefit from that quality from Mike Ashley. It is likely he will, at least until January.
If the question seems premature, it is a measure of the alarm sparked by the past three performances – at West Ham, at home to Watford, then the bloodless Capital One Cup effort against Sheffield Wednesday – that it has even arisen.
Those clambering over the top of the St James’ Park dugout on Wednesday to angrily point and howl at McClaren did not appear to think it is too early to be wondering about the abilities of Newcastle’s ninth manager in nine years. But that turnover is one reason why, unless the situation unravels completely, McClaren will be supported and the club will buy again in January. For Ashley there may be an uncomfortable echo of Sam Allardyce about the present, but it is anticipated McClaren will receive longer than Allardyce’s eight months at St James’.
McClaren spoke this week of an imminent “review” of transfer policy which, if it happens, will be an internal victory for him that Alan Pardew never won. McClaren declined to pursue a line about “buying British” but it is part of a changing agenda.
That Newcastle could spend once more will be highlighted again, but the emphasis on how much has been spent this summer ignores how little the club paid out in previous years: small net profits in 2013 and 2011 for example (based on published figures).
McClaren made his “review” comment on Tuesday. Aware of developing disenchantment, he also said that he and the players had to “prove the doubters wrong”. But 24 hours later, the opposite occurred.
McClaren witnessed this dugout animosity. At Twente he was taken with the fact that win, lose or draw, the players and manager would make the effort to salute supporters from the middle of the pitch. Knowing of Newcastle’s fractured relationship with their fanbase, he has made the players do the same but on Wednesday Tim Krul, for one, tried to walk past the manager and straight down the tunnel. McClaren made him go back. Krul did not look happy and if he saw it as a misreading of the atmosphere by the manager, Krul was right.
This was not new to Krul or to the supporters, but it was to McClaren. This was his first taste of a disillusion that wormed its way into the club towards the end of the Hall/Shepherd regime in 2007 and which has spread under Ashley’s divisive ownership.
McClaren, who declined the job in January when Pardew left for Crystal Palace, has embraced his role as club spokesman and figurehead as Ashley and the managing director, Lee Charnley, have moved back into the corridors. Graham Carr, effectively the director of football, is rarely visible.
Having participated in a botched, antagonising unveiling, McClaren talked of reconnection and fresh beginnings. But he has begun to lapse into two-word soundbites – “car crash”, “bad egg” and “blind faith” all being heard in the last week alone.
Of these, the latter worried fans the most. A coach renowned for a tactical approach is not expected to be broad-brushing a downturn. He is expected to find particular solutions to particular problems, yet for all the talk of possession and ball circulation, against Watford last Saturday, direct from kick-off, the ball was launched long and high as if Malcolm Macdonald or Les Ferdinand were still pulling on the jersey.
On Wednesday, on the big screen at St James’, they showed – at least twice – Alan Shearer scoring five goals against Sheffield Wednesday in 1999 during an 8-0 victory. It was a reminder of Shearer’s power and an example of what Newcastle lack. Up front against the team 14th in the Championship was Siem de Jong. Dogged by injury, De Jong has scored twice for Newcastle since signing from Ajax 16 months ago. In added time on Wednesday De Jong had two useful chances and missed both.
At least he was on the pitch. Papiss Cissé was injured apparently, while Aleksandar Mitrovic was suspended. Emmanuel Rivière is a £6m afterthought. Cissé is one of those McClaren has denied this week is a “bad egg”. That was his public opinion.
There is some sympathy for the manager’s situation, or there was. McClaren inherited a team that last season had the second-worst defence in the Premier League: only the bottom club Queens Park Rangers conceded more than Newcastle.
Now he has a team that cannot score. Newcastle have managed goals in two of their six league games and the tally of three is the division’s worst. All three goals have come at home; Newcastle have not scored away since May. That makes the trip to Manchester City on Saturday week look even more daunting. Newcastle lost 5-0 there in February.
Before then, Chelsea visit St James’. In the absence of Diego Costa, there is Loïc Rémy. Rémy scored 14 goals in 24 starts on loan from QPR for Newcastle the season before last but the club did not make his transfer permanent. Chelsea did.
