Steve McClaren laments missing out on the Aston Villa job.
Villa Park
Aston Villa have had their fair share of heartache over recent seasons. Last night they received some good news.
Former England boss Steve McClaren told BBC Radio 5 Live that he missed out on landing the Aston Villa job, and blamed supporters for costing him the opportunity.
McClaren had success at Middlesbrough and Twente, but his managerial spells at Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Newcastle United have ended either prematurely or terribly, sometimes both.
Steve McClaren’s most recent job was at Derby
His failure to get a talented England side to qualify for Euro 2008 is a large stain on his CV and for all Aston Villa’s misfortunes in recent campaigns, they are fortunate to have avoided him piling on the pain.
McClaren blamed his failure to get the Villa job on internet message boards, commenting: “I was going for a job at Aston Villa. I think the supporters got wind of it, and tweeted, and got on whatever they call them – the boards [fan boards] or something. And there was a big protest about it.
“And I was just about to take a train down to Aston Villa when I got a phonecall to say, ‘Well there are too many messages that are anti-McClaren’, and [I was told] ‘Don’t bother getting on the train’.”
Former Newcastle manager Steve McClaren
McClaren explained this was after one of his spells at FC Twente, rather than this current season.
He reflected that he has too much ‘baggage’ in his own country now to be taken seriously, but to be fair this is purely down to his own past failures.
Villa fans reacted with relief at his comments, and criticised his lack of self awareness, with supporters of rival clubs also weighing in to lambast him.
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