Steve McClaren will return to Manchester United after 21 years after being officially confirmed as a member of new manager Erik ten Hag’s backroom staff.
United announced on Monday that the former England boss will join Ten Hag’s Ajax No2 Mitchell van der Gaag as an assistant coach as another new era dawns at Old Trafford.
McClaren previously left United in 2001 to take his first managerial position at Middlesbrough after spending three seasons as assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson that included the famous Treble triumph in 1998/99 and further Premier League titles in the two subsequent campaigns.
He was initially brought to the club as a replacement for Brian Kidd, having begun his coaching career at Oxford and enjoyed promotion success alongside Jim Smith at Derby.
McClaren won the League Cup at Middlesbrough and also reached the Uefa Cup final, later being named as England’s replacement for Sven-Goran Eriksson in 2006 having coached in the national setup during two separate two-year stints.
The 61-year-old lasted just 16 months in the role, however, replaced by Fabio Capello after being sacked in the aftermath of England’s dismal failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.
McClaren returned to club management with Dutch side FC Twente in 2008, winning the Eredivisie title and later enduring short, unsuccessful spells with Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest before returning to Twente for 13 months.
He later had two stints in charge at Derby, reaching the Championship play-off final in 2014, as well as managing at Newcastle and QPR.
McClaren also served as a coaching consultant at Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2017 and also went back to Derby as a technical director and later part-time senior adviser, leaving after the Rams entered administration.
Ten Hag previously worked as an assistant under McClaren at Twente and reports that the latter could be in line for a surprise return to Manchester United first circulated in April.
The pair will be joined at Old Trafford by Van der Gaag, subject to Governing Body Endorsement from the Football Association (FA) and the granting of a UK visa.
The former Motherwell defender previously served as coach of Ajax’s reserve side and was assistant to Ten Hag last season as he guided the senior team to another Dutch title win.
Ten Hag is the permanent successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at United and succeeds interim coach Ralf Rangnick, who will now step into a consultancy role that he will combine with being the new coach of the Austrian national team.
Ten Hag left Ajax six weeks earlier than scheduled to begin planning for what is expected to be a major summer overhaul at United, who limped to a sixth-placed finish and Europa League qualification despite their lowest-ever Premier League points tally and a final-day defeat at Crystal Palace, thanks to Brighton’s win over West Ham.
The Dutchman will conduct his first United press conference at 12pm BST on Monday, having been in attendance alongside McClaren and Van der Gaag at Selhurst Park at the weekend.
