POLL: The McClaren era(s)

[Wolfie]

Yes. I was sick of Clough's football & more so, was fed up of his tendency to single out players for criticism in interviews. I can't see GR ever doing that.

What was the context at the time?. Who else could we have realistically chosen? I can't remember.

I thought Mac would be a breath of fresh air, though. And he was.

[RadioactiveWaste]

At the time he was appointed i nearly crashed my car with wild fuming.

[RamNut]

Yes assuming nigel had been sacked, but i wouldn't have sacked nigel after forest.

(i would have sacked nigel after the cywka incident - final straw etc , but having survived all that i thought he was finally getting somewhere)

[DRBee]

Voted Yes, since pleased at the time -  relief at the end of Clough and his dismal football (Was pleased with the Clough appointment but after a couple of years it was clear he wasn't taking us anywhere). 

 

MacClaren gave us some excellent football and even hindsight cannot take those memories away.

 

[JoeDerby]

IMO, Clough should have been sacked along time before he was, yes he was cutting the wage bill, yes he didn't have a healthy budget but we were going absolutely nowhere and a lot of the time it felt like he was 'unsackable' because of the name 'Clough'.

 

When McClaren was announced as the Derby County Manager, I was sceptical, but was happy to see a change in management and was looking forward to seeing what a new face could produce with a clearly talented bunch. My god, it was more than a breath of fresh air.

 

That first season he was in charge, that season, was my most enjoyable of any season being a Rams fan, we were outstanding and for that reason, I'll always respect the wolly with the brolly.

 

Cheers Steve!

[TibshelfRam]

Suspect that I'll get a few suspicious glances for saying this but I voted 'Yes' because, at the time, I was in favour. For a couple of reasons:

Yes, his stock was low following Forest, Wolfsburg and still from England. But, I preferred to reflect on his time at a similarly sized/set up/run club in Middlesbrough where he did something special. Additionally, he won the Dutch league (a league which is only ever won by 2/3 sides) with a relative nobody.

In addition, everyone who speaks about McClaren speaks about what a good coach he is: Ferguson, Giggs, Beckham, a load of the England players and, latterly, the QPR players who he had most recently worked with. They can't all be wrong. At the time I felt that our side was in dire need of a quality coach - something which was well reported not to be the case under Clough and his team.

But, also, McClaren was well connected - working at Man Utd, England and with some top players and coaches. I always felt he could use those connections - and he did. He was a coach who had never shirked a challenge and was determined to prove himself. He also was one of the few British coaches who took the leap into the unknown to develop himself and went abroad. I always felt that this would be advantageous.

I wanted a coach who played good, attacking football - and he did always try to. His failure at Forest was - if you look at it - down to systemic failure at the club over a number of years. His failure at England was as a result of having taken the job too early - do I think he would have been better suited to the role after having been abroad etc? Yes. And whilst he did fail with England, if you look at it, we haven't performed drastically better since and some individual errors (see Robinson and Carson v Croatia) played their part, too. That is not a defence but was my honest reflection at the time. Certainly when other names mentioned were Pulis and a couple of others - I know that I was certainly in favour of McClaren at the time.

Did I anticipate how things would turn out and the immediate impact that he would make? No , I didn't. But I remember my feeling at the time to be one of cautious optimism - and that is genuine. And that is why I voted 'Yes'.

[jono]

56 minutes ago, rynny said:

Yes, I got a season ticket because we had appointed him. I was intrigued by what he was going to do, and genuinely excited the first time in about 3 years about going to matches.

Me too. Reignited boyhood fandom. Stopped vaguely "following" my team and began supporting properly, going to games. Thanks Schteve. 

[TigerTedd]

His record at Forest was a plus point as far as I’m concerned. 

[Ramshankered]

36 minutes ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

Indeed. I voted yes and I said it was good at the time. There seem to be some who are voting with hindsight.

Anybody find the thread of his appointment?

This is me. I voted in hindsight without really thinking about it – but in hindsight to my hindsight I was outraged by Clough's dismissal. Was very frosty to Mac's appointment initially. I soon thawed out with the Ipswich comeback tho!

[MK-Ram]

I voted 'no' because at the time I was horrified.

Sacking Clough was completely the right decision, however McClaren's appointment made me really concerned about the decisions higher up at the club (although I was very happy with Simpson and Steele).

Happy to say I was wrong on that occasion!

[QuitYourJibbaJivin]

Voted No because at the time I didn’t think it was a good appointment, after all the stick we were giving the dogs over appointing him how could it have been?

With hindsight yes, was a fantastic appointment, that season was the most I’ve enjoyed any season since following Derby, some great football and even better away days!

[mrdave85]

I voted yes because I thought it was a good appointment at the time - (although I was drunk and at a wedding when I first heard )

[Wolfie20]

First time definitely YES.

Second time definitely NO

[Dimmu]

First time Show me the results (as neutral as could)

Second time definitely yes

[ramit]

i was delighted that Clough was replaced with Mac and said so at the time.   A top coach with Derby roots for a err

i appreciated what Clough had done to stabilize the club with hardly any budget, but was convinced we would never get to the next stage with him in charge, his negative tactics were driving me nuts

[Gritstone Ram]

I didn't agree at the time with Cloughs sacking. My first thoughts about McClaren were no but results and performances won me over.

[Mr Tibbs]

Yes for me. 

The whole appointment was uplifting at the time, the sense of an approach change was pretty obvious and that was only going to be a good thing after the previous 4 years. 

[Mistaram]

Long time since we signed him from Hull in 1985 can't remember what I thought to be honest 

[TibshelfRam]

58 minutes ago, DC-1975 said:

I'd wanted him to come back as manager since the Jim Smith days. I always thought that team went into decline once he left.

I was gutted when he joined Forest.

The players we had at the time of his first appointment suited his system/style perfectly, which wasn't the case the second time.

 

Completely agree. I remember arguing with mates who were laughing at his appointment at Forest and warning them that it was a good appointment. The fact that out didn't work out says more about the absurd way the club was (and is) run - as has been born out over the last 7 years.

[Seaside Sam]

Cannot believe we are still wasting time talking about this, he has gone you have just got to let it go.NEW ERA!!!