Steve McClaren sat on a bench in the away dressing room at the City Ground and watched Alex Ferguson debrief a Manchester United side who’d just earned the club’s biggest away win in almost a century.
It was McClaren’s second day as Ferguson’s assistant. Three days earlier, he was the No 2 at Derby when they headed north to face United. Derby travelled back defeated but only narrowly, beaten by a single Dwight Yorke goal. The team coach pulled back into the car park of their Pride Park stadium around 2am. As the squad disembarked, the manager, Jim Smith, pulled McClaren aside.
