Football fans may be amused by Derby County reappointing Steve McClaren, but here’s why his appointment ought not to be mocked.

Steve McClaren has rejoined Derby County

Seventeen months and a dreadful spell at Newcastle on from his dismissal as Derby County manager and Steve McClaren has rejoined the Rams. Cause for laughter, for many perhaps, but the ex-England boss’ appointment really isn’t that funny when properly analysed. McClaren has the highest win percentage of any permanent Derby manager since the 1940’s, is inheriting a stronger squad than the one he took to a Championship play-off final and is, all-in-all, a far smarter appointment than that of Nigel Pearson.

Pearson arrived at Derby without two hugely influential figures in Steve Walsh and Craig Shakespeare, who he had always had alongside him at Leicester and Hull. He is also someone who likes his teams to play in a certain way, and that way is not exactly synonyms with the style associated with Derby in recent years. The Rams possession-based approach may not have seen them win promotion, but they have won many plaudits and regularly challenged at the top end of England’s second tier.

Whilst Pearson looked to move away from that, something his players clearly had difficulties implementing (especially in the short period of time Pearson was given at the iPro), McClaren is likely to return to a style of play much more familiar to the group. The nucleus of McClaren’s 2014/15 team are still at Derby, and those who have joined have a lot of quality which just hasn’t been fully tapped into in the East Midlands just yet.

Many Derby players enjoyed McClaren’s approach to the game

Firstly, however, when analysing McClaren’s appointment, one ought to look at his previous stint as Rams boss. In 2013/14 he guided the club to a 3rd place finish in the league, followed by a Championship play-off final. Having cruised past Brighton, winning both at home and away, Derby went on to dominate the play-off final at Wembley against QPR.

The Rams had an incredible 68% possession, 14 corners and 16 shots on goal, but it was QPR who won the game, with Bobby Zamora scoring an injury-time winner with the R’s first shot on target. It was a cruel blow, but Derby picked themselves up and began the next season valiantly. In fact, at the end of February 2015, Derby topped the Championship table, but just 2 wins in their last 12 games saw McClaren’s team plummet, finishing the season in a bitterly disappointing 8th place.

One noticeable aspect of McClaren’s Derby team was the way in which they played. In 2013/14, they were the top scorers in the division, and in 2014/15 they outscored every play-off team barring Norwich. Their tallies of 84 and 85 goals scored under McClaren dropped to just 66 goals scored last season, and the less said about the Rams goal scoring exploits in the current campaign the better.

McClaren had Derby firing

Chris Martin is the finest example of this, the Scotland international notched 40 goals in 80 games under McClaren, compared to just 15 goals in 61 appearances without the former England boss. Martin is currently out on-loan at Fulham, but there had been talk of a return to the iPro for the 27-year-old, and one suspects that’s something McClaren would be keen on.

Tom Ince is another player who was in inspired form under Steve McClaren, scoring 11 goals in 18 games, compared to 12 in 42 last season. Clearly then, McClaren is a man who gets the best out of his attacking assets, and that’s something Derby need right now. The Rams have managed a measly 6 goals from 11 outings so far this campaign, but they have a squad laced with quality and goal getters at Championship level.

Since his departure, a further six forwards have joined the club, namely Darren Bent, James Wilson, Abdoul Camara, Nick Blackman, Matej Vydra and Andreas Weimann. With McClaren likely to take the shackles off the likes of Ince and Blackman, one wouldn’t be surprised to see them rediscover the form that convinced Derby to buy them in the first place.

Tom Ince scored 11 goals in 18 games under Steve McClaren

Steve McClaren seems to have garnered a reputation as something of a serial loser, but when one properly assesses his managerial career, it is clear that this is not the case. As a coach and assistant, he was way ahead of his time, advocating the use of video analysis and sports psychologists a long time before they became common place.

At Middlesbrough, he did a magnificent job, always mid table and safe, finishing 7th in 2004/05 (above Manchester City and Tottenham), winning the League Cup in 2004 and reaching the UEFA Cup final in 2006. He wasn’t without his critics at the Riverside, but Boro’s relegation within three seasons of McClaren’s departure was testament to the good work he did in the North East.

The England job was too big for him, and he was an undoubted failure there. From ‘second choice Steve’ to the ‘Wally with a Brolly’, the failure did a lot to damage McClaren’s reputation, but he took a bold move by heading abroad for his next role. Gary Neville and David Moyes have shown the dangers of venturing out onto the continent and trying your hand outside England, but unlike those two, McClaren was a success.

Steve McClaren whilst in charge of England

McClaren’s achievements at FC Twente during his first stint are often underplayed. In 2008, he inherited a Twente team which had finished 4th the previous season. In his first season he guided the team to a 2nd place finish, above Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, and in his second season he masterminded the first and, to date, the only Eredivisie title in Twente’s history. During his 2 years at Twente, McClaren had a 62.9% win percentage.

His next two spells at Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest were not successful, but both were very brief, and whilst his return to Twente is often seen as a failure, McClaren had an almost 50% win record, signed the likes of Dusan Tadic and Luc Castaignos, both of whom were excellent for the club.

Having finished in the bottom half in both of the last 2 seasons, one suspects many Twente fans would love to have McClaren back at the helm now. From there, McClaren became the Derby manager, where he reached a play-off final and finished 8th, before an inevitably disastrous spell at Newcastle, where he was essentially a coach as Mike Ashley called the shots.

McClaren’s failure at Newcastle was inevitable

The Derby players themselves will very likely be delighted to see McClaren return. The wealth of attacking potential in the team will be allowed to do their jobs under him. Automatic promotion is no longer a serious possibility for the Rams, so McClaren can focus on getting Derby playing again, getting them scoring again, and getting them somewhere close to the way in which they played for the vast majority of his first reign in charge, with the play-off’s a possibility.

McClaren’s permanent transfer business at Derby was hardly inspiring, but his use of the loan market was, bringing in the likes of Jordon Ibe, Jack Butland, Tom Ince, Jesse Lingard, Andre Wisdom and Michael Keane. With a strong squad already in place at the iPro, McClaren doesn’t desperately need to bring in permanent signings, but if he can find another gem in the loan market, it could go a long way to helping Derby make a late play-off push.

Ultimately, it rests with Mel Morris. The Derby chairman didn’t seem to have any real strategy in place with the appointment of Nigel Pearson. He sacked Paul Clement with some hazy claim about playing the ‘Derby way’ and dismissed Pearson (who has always built projects, not brought instant success) after 14 games. Hopefully McClaren will be given time and not be burdened by unrealistic expectations. If he is, he could be a real success.

Derby chief executive Sam Rush and chairman Mel Morris

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