Newcastle United: Steve McClaren admits his mistakes
By Bryan Nelson
It’s been a while since Steve McClaren has discussed Newcastle United to the press. He’s done a good job of remaining quiet since being sacked in March.
What’s good to see is McClaren take a bit more responsibility for the failures of Newcastle United under his leadership. Instead of taking aim at upper management and their failure to give him transfer control and academy control, he took the blame for not being assertive enough to stand up to those disastrous policies.
When Steve McClaren arrived on Tyneside, the club was reeling from the disaster that was John Carver. You know, the best coach in the Premier League, who’s now managing AC Omonia in Cyprus. Fans and critics were hoping to see a change in policy come from the board of directors involving recruitment and transfer control.
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But instead of outright changing their policies, they created a facade by appointing McClaren to the board of directors. Leading many to think that McClaren at least had more of a say than previous managers. And if that’s true, he failed to speak up.
McClaren regrets not being assertive enough to upper management and the players. He even went on to say that he felt a lot of players lacked the commitment needed to win matches.
“The mentality of the team was that they would play well against top teams, but they couldn’t win the games they should have won against the lower teams.”
And he’s spot on there. The club gave up many matches to clubs that they should have swiftly defeated and walked away with three points. But if Steve McClaren truly felt this way, his tactical decisions and first team choices didn’t reflect this belief.
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When Rafa Benitez joined in March, things most certainly changed. If a player didn’t show enough commitment then they would be benched in favor of another player. Steve McClaren didn’t do this. He merely was hoping that things would change.
He regrets not standing up to the under 25 policy that the club had on transfers. He regrets not demanding control over transfers and academy operations. All-in-all, Steve McClaren is likely regretting every moment he spent on Tyneside, because he knew towards the end of it all, he’d be the first one to go, even if it wasn’t entirely his fault.
Managers need to manage. This is what makes football so different from other sports around the world. Basketball has its coaches and general managers, and each are separate positions. General managers know the game well, and they’ll facilitate trades and drafts. Same goes for baseball, and the NHL.
But in football, what makes teams tick is that the coach is also the manager. They build teams tailored to their style. And Steve McClaren was unable to do that during his time with the club. And he is now frustrated that he didn’t stand up for himself and got pushed around.
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He wishes that Rafa Benitez will have more luck. And he stated that Rafa Benitez is more likely to be given full control — which we now know is the case.
Was McClaren ever in a position to demand the things that Benitez demanded? Remember, McClaren initially declined offers from Newcastle United before finally agreeing to sign. Surely, he could have being more adamant in negotiations.