Former England manager Steve McClaren has been linked with the Newcastle United head coach position since January, and Steve is doing his best to do two things – trying to get Derby County promoted to the Premier League, and playing down any talk that he will join Newcastle at the end of the season.
Derby Chairman Sam Rush and manager Steve McClaren
You cannot blame McClaren for that, and he’s doing his very best in the job he has now, and hopefully for Derby County and their fans the club can get promoted this season, after so narrowly missing out last May to QPR.
We may criticize Steve on his coaching talents, but there’s no doubt he ‘s a good man and a very good professional.
Derby play second top Watford at home tomorrow night, so that’s a huge game and 3 points for Derby would put them within 2 points of Watford and an automatic promotion spot – a really big game tomorrow night for Steve and Derby County.
At his press conference today, this is what Steve said when asked about the link to Newcastle:
“It is football, it’s newspapers and it is that time of the season. Our focus is on Watford on Friday, and then Wigan on Monday, and the big April we have got ahead.”
“We are focusing on doing a job here, we know where we want to go, and that is the main aim.” “We said from day one we have got a job to do here, we are focused totally on that.”
“Everything else is irrelevant and speculation.”
Good words from McClaren there but in truth those denials don’t mean too much, but it allows Steve and his players and coaches to concentrate on the work at hand – and that’s always important.
Newcastle have said they will do nothing on the head coach position until the end of the season, and Steve McClaren will (quite rightly) deny he has any interest in the Newcastle job.
If Derby come away from gaining only 2 points form their last six league games, and have a good string of results in the final seven games of the season, they could still get automatic promotion or get it via the play-offs – and Steve McClaren would in all likelihood stay at Derby.
It starts with the game tomorrow night, and a win against in-form Watford could send Derby County on their way.
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14 comments so far
Jeff from Benwell
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:19 PM
Comment #1Increasingly looking like Christophe Grenier
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:20 PM
Comment #2GT…try and do a calculation of Parsnip’s win percentage from January to Juni last season?
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:25 PM
Comment #3Ed…those words might not mean much but where’s your credibility when you linking him to the Newcastle job based on interviews where SM says it’s just speculation and frankly irrelevant?
…do an article about that!
Mister Tuff
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:25 PM
Comment #4Christophe Galtier—————-DUH.
GeordieTwo
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:28 PM
Comment #5McLaren has a job in his hand? Would he like to borrow my Suck-O-Matic 3000?
Jeff from Benwell
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:28 PM
Comment #6galtier clever girl
Jeff from Benwell
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:29 PM
Comment #7and it’s doh
GeordieTwo
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:29 PM
Comment #8I know we had 4 wins in our last 19 games jesper mate so that would be a winning rate of 21%! Look at that! Much better than 16.7%! Why, the man was clearly a football genius and we chased him away! Harrumph!!!
GeordieTwo
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:35 PM
Comment #9I can rent it to him with the inflatable head gear for only 7 euros a day. You won’t get that kind of bargain elsewhere Steve mind.
Jeff from Benwell
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:38 PM
Comment #10Actually talking of Clement Grenier which we weren’t
He has now recovered from whatever kept him out of the French squad in Brazil.
The clubs who have sniffed around this month in no particular order are:-
Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Leverkusen and Newcastle
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:43 PM
Comment #11GT…Carver still has 8 more games to make that win percentage even worse or slightly better 😉 lol
GeordieTwo
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:45 PM
Comment #12Another AM Jeff? He only has 11 goals in 87 games and we already have De Jong and Cabella. We need CB’s desperately and strikers. Of course they have to be cheap to buy and wanting only low wages. Right then, it shouldn’t take long to find the right kind of lads for wor club. 😯
GeordieTwo
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:46 PM
Comment #13Now, now that’s far too optimistic/pessimistic jesper mate! I want you to commit here and now. Is it going to get worse than 16.7% or better in the last 8 games. Harrumph!
GeordieTwo
Apr 2, 2015 at 7:49 PM
Comment #14Personally I think Johnny C. has a strong chance of winning 4 games out of 20 this season as head coach. That’s 20% wins lads. And you lot complain about him! Unbelievable!!!