Early coaching After retiring from playing, McClaren began his coaching career as a youth and reserve team coach at Oxford United, where
Denis Smith was manager. He moved back to Derby County in 1995, where he was assistant manager to
Jim Smith. The pair won promotion to the
Premier League in their
first season in charge, establishing themselves in this division and later enjoyed further consolidation in the top flight. In early 1999, McClaren moved to
Manchester United as assistant to
Alex Ferguson, replacing
Brian Kidd. At the time, he was so little known that he was introduced by United chairman
Martin Edwards as "Steve McClaridge", perhaps confusing him with the former
Leicester City striker
Steve Claridge. His first half-season was distinguished by United winning
the treble, consisting of the Premier League title,
FA Cup and
UEFA Champions League. He developed the reputation as one of the most tactically astute coaches in the country, using modern methods such as video analysis and
sports psychologists. He retained the position under permanent manager
Sven-Göran Eriksson until November 2002, combining the job with his roles at club level. However, he returned to assist Eriksson as assistant manager shortly before
UEFA Euro 2004 as Brian Kidd had undergone surgery for
prostate cancer. He remained in the role up to and including the
2006 FIFA World Cup finals.
Middlesbrough At the end of the
2000–01 season, McClaren began looking for a managerial job, having decided his chances of succeeding Ferguson at
Old Trafford were slim; at the time, Ferguson was planning to retire the following summer, but would ultimately remain in charge of United for a further 11 seasons. In his first season, Middlesbrough reached the FA Cup semi-final, knocking out his previous employers Manchester United in the fourth round, but lost 0–1 to
Arsenal. They finished 12th in the league, a small improvement on the previous season's 14th-place finish. The
following season brought another modest improvement, this time finishing 11th, although they had been in higher positions – and the race for a
UEFA Cup place – for most of the season. between
Middlesbrough and
Bolton Wanderers at the
Millennium Stadium In the
2003–04 season, McClaren guided Boro to victory in the
League Cup with a
2–1 win over
Bolton Wanderers in the final. This was the club's first-ever major honour and also guaranteed them qualification for a
European competition for the first time in their 128-year history. In the following close season, McClaren was able to attract proven players
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink,
Michael Reiziger and
Mark Viduka to Middlesbrough. The signings paid dividends as the club reached the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup, having beaten more experienced sides such as
Lazio, before being eliminated by
Sporting CP. The club finished in seventh position in the Premier League – their best finish since 1975 – ensuring qualification for the UEFA Cup for a second successive season. The
2005–06 season proved to be the most eventful of McClaren's tenure at Middlesbrough. The club endured mediocre league form, losing at home to local rivals
Sunderland Boro eventually finished in a secure 14th place but enjoyed greater success in the cup competitions, reaching the latter stages of both the FA and UEFA Cups. They lost 0–1 to
West Ham United in the FA Cup semi-finals. McClaren's five-year tenure on Teesside saw him establish himself as Middlesbrough's most successful manager as he made the often difficult transition from coach to manager. He was the first manager to guide them to a major trophy and the first to guide them to qualification for a European competition. He was also the most successful English manager of the early 21st century; he was the first Englishman to win a major honour since 1996 and first to reach a European final with an English club since 1985. Many Boro fans, however, were indifferent about his departure, believing Steve Gibson, the club chairman, to be more important to their success. McClaren was accused by rival managers of having a "pot of gold" provided by Gibson to buy players, giving him an advantage over other teams, except perhaps the biggest few clubs in the league. Despite this, towards the latter end of his tenure, McClaren was criticised by some supporters for using negative tactics and earning Middlesbrough the tag of a "dull" side. Some observers attributed Middlesbrough's success to the senior, experienced players in the side, rather than McClaren's managerial ability. The FA first offered the position to Scolari, but he rejected the offer, claiming that the role would mean excessive media intrusion in his life. McClaren, however, was subsequently announced as Eriksson's successor on 4 May 2006 after signing a four-year contract. The nature of his appointment earned him the nickname "Second Choice Steve". The appointment was praised by the likes of Alex Ferguson and
Trevor Brooking. McClaren assumed control of the national team on 1 August 2006. McClaren chose popular former England coach
Terry Venables as his assistant, a move seen by some as an attempt to counter the lack of enthusiasm for McClaren. He also hired
public relations guru
Max Clifford to manage his relationship with the
media. McClaren's first decision was to choose the new England captain. He decided to give the arm band to
John Terry, the
Chelsea defender and captain who at the time had 24 England caps, saying: "I'm convinced he will prove to be one of the best captains England has ever had." In his first squad, McClaren dropped many of the national team's older players including
Sol Campbell,
David James and former captain
David Beckham, saying he was planning for "a different direction". McClaren, however, stated that there was still a chance that Beckham could be recalled in the future. After starting qualification for
UEFA Euro 2008 well with two wins, England hit a poor run of form between October 2006 and March 2007 with only one goal scored in five matches, by which time they had fallen to fourth in their
qualification group. During a match against
Andorra in March 2007, McClaren and the England team received abuse from supporters during a poor performance in a 3–0 win. McClaren walked out of the post-match press conference after only two minutes of questions, saying, "Gentlemen, if you want to write whatever you want to write, you can write it because that is all I am going to say. Thank you." In May 2007, McClaren made a U-turn by recalling David Beckham into the England squad. England subsequently had a run of four wins from six matches, which boosted the country's hopes of
qualification for Euro 2008, before a defeat against
Russia in October 2007 caused their qualification fate to fall out of their hands. The FA's chief executive,
Brian Barwick, gave his backing to McClaren, despite the defeat. McClaren was also backed by players
Phil Neville and
Steven Gerrard, his predecessor Eriksson, and the chief executive of the
League Managers Association,
John Barnwell. The results of other matches in England's qualification group meant that England would qualify as the second place team by avoiding a loss in their final group match against
Croatia, who had already qualified for the tournament. They would also qualify if Russia failed to beat Andorra. The match was played at Wembley on 21 November 2007 and England lost 3–2; coupled with Russia's victory over Andorra, this meant that England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. It was the first time since the
1994 FIFA World Cup that England had not qualified for a major tournament, and the first time they had missed the European Championships since
UEFA Euro 1984. The following day, the FA held an emergency meeting and decided to sack McClaren from his post along with his assistant manager Terry Venables. McClaren's tenure was the second shortest of any England manager, spanning just 18 games in 16 months, only superseded by Sam Allardyce's one game in 67 days. On 14 December 2007, the FA announced
Fabio Capello as McClaren's replacement commencing from 7 January 2008.
Twente in 2012 McClaren announced in February 2008 he would consider managing in either the
Championship or abroad in his next job. In May 2008, McClaren was linked with a return to football as manager of the Dutch
Eredivisie side
Twente. He was in the crowd for a match against Ajax on 18 May, seeing Twente qualify for the Champions League. In response to speculation, a Twente spokesman initially stated that the club had no intention of hiring McClaren. Later that month, however, it was reported McClaren had held talks with Twente chairman Joop Munsterman and had toured the club, despite question marks from some Twente fans to his possible appointment. When he was initially offered the Twente managerial job, McClaren turned it down due to private issues, and on 7 June he expressed an interest in the vacant managerial role at
Blackburn Rovers. On 20 June, however, he was confirmed as the new manager of Twente. and on the European front, the club survived group stages in the
UEFA Cup, having beaten amongst others
Racing de Santander and
Schalke 04, managed by McClaren's predecessor at Twente,
Fred Rutten. It was the first time in 30 years that the club had remained in European competition beyond winter. Twente were eventually knocked out on penalties in the Round of 32 by
Marseille. At the start of the
2009–10 campaign, McClaren's second season at Twente, there were question-marks over how well newcomers
Bryan Ruiz and
Miroslav Stoch would be able to replace the departed
Eljero Elia and
Marko Arnautović, who had been at the core of Twente's second-place finish in the league the preceding year. McClaren, however, led the team to some impressive results, with Twente reaching the top of the Eredivisie in October and remaining top throughout the next few months. Twente, which had never won an Eredivisie title in its history, continued to top the league in the latter part of the season, holding off the likes of renowned competitors
PSV and
Ajax, and seriously emerged as title favourites. They also reached the first knockout round of the inaugural
Europa League, where they were defeated by
Werder Bremen. McClaren signed a one-year extension to his contract in October 2009. On 2 May 2010, Twente were crowned champions for the first time in their history after a 2–0 win away to
NAC Breda. On winning the Eredivisie, McClaren became the first Englishman to manage a team to a top-level domestic league title since
Bobby Robson with
Porto in
1996 (Robson also won the Dutch title with PSV in
1991 and
1992). Robson had in fact been a major influence in McClaren's decision to go to the Netherlands. According to McClaren: "The relationship I had with Bobby was very special. He was a good friend and was of big influence on my decision to join Twente. I'd like to think that he'll be watching from a cloud up above and wishes us the best as we play the last game in the league against NAC." Twente won 16 of 17 home matches in the Eredivisie league that season and lost just two away. Twente withstood immense pressure from
Martin Jol's Ajax (who won their last 14 games in a row and had a goal difference of +86, more than double Twente's +40) during the second half of the season, and trumped the
Amsterdam side by one point difference on the last day of the league to claim the title. Upon winning the championship, McClaren stated: "Winning the Carling Cup with Middlesbrough was special but this is pretty much right up at the top of anything I've ever done. To win a championship in a foreign country with foreign coaches, I think it's made me stronger." At the end of the season, McClaren was awarded the
Rinus Michels Award for Dutch manager of the season.
VfL Wolfsburg Despite winning the Dutch league with Twente, McClaren left the club on 11 May 2010 to take over as manager of
Bundesliga side
VfL Wolfsburg, making him the first Englishman to manage a German top flight football club. Wolfsburg lost their first three league matches under McClaren – including a 2–1 injury time away loss to
Bayern Munich on the opening day of the season, followed by a 4–3 home loss to
Mainz 05 having led 3–0 after 30 minutes – but got off the mark with a 2–0 home win against
Hannover 96. Wolfsburg then won their next two matches convincingly to rise to sixth in the table. Despite struggling in the league, on 23 December 2010 the club publicly showed a vote of confidence in McClaren. Due to further poor results, however, on 7 February 2011, the board decided to dismiss McClaren with immediate effect.
Nottingham Forest McClaren succeeded
Billy Davies as manager of
Nottingham Forest on 13 June 2011. McClaren made five signings by getting
Andy Reid to return to his former club from
Blackpool on a free transfer,
Ishmael Miller from
West Bromwich Albion for a fee of
£1.2 million,
Matt Derbyshire for an undisclosed fee from
Olympiacos.
George Boateng on a free transfer from
Skoda Xanthi and
Jonathan Greening from
Fulham for a fee of £600,000. After Forest only won eight points from his first ten league games in charge, McClaren resigned as manager on 2 October 2011.
Return to Twente On 5 January 2012, Twente confirmed that McClaren has been appointed as the club's manager for the second time. In the press conference after being unveiled as manager, McClaren said his return to Twente was "an easy decision" to make, and wanted to set his sights on winning the Eredivisie title. McClaren made his first match back as manager for the second time when Twente hammered
RKC Waalwijk 5–0. His return was welcomed by the club's supporters, who wore "Welcome Back Steve" T-shirts during Saturday's game. In the January transfer window, McClaren caused controversy when he sold one of their best strikers,
Marc Janko, to Porto for approximately £5 million. Despite this, McClaren invested money to sign
Wesley Verhoek from
ADO Den Haag for £1.5 million (a player McClaren had previously tried to sign while in charge at Nottingham Forest but the proposed deal fell through) and
Glynor Plet from
Heracles Almelo for £1.5 million. McClaren also signed
Joshua John and
Daniel Fernandes on a free transfer. After a disappointing sixth place, Twente invested in new players including
Dušan Tadić and
Luc Castaignos. Twente made it through the group stages of the
Europa League, while winning the first six league matches. McClaren became the second foreign trainer in the Eredivisie who has coached more than 100 matches. After growing criticism from supporters, McClaren resigned his position on 26 February 2013, stating: "We agree the Club is bigger than any one individual and Twente is too big in my heart to stand in the way of its progress."
Derby County In September 2013, McClaren returned to Derby County when he was appointed
head coach to replace
Nigel Clough, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract. He appointed former Derby winger
Paul Simpson and former Manchester United goalkeeping coach
Eric Steele to his backroom staff. McClaren's first two games in charge brought successive victories, as he earned Derby their first league home win of the season with a tenth successive victory over
Leeds United (3–1) and inflicted
Watford's first home defeat of the season with a 3–2 away win. The Watford victory earned McClaren the
LMA Performance of the Week award. After Derby picked up 19 points from a possible 21 in December 2013, McClaren was awarded the Championship Manager of the Month award. Derby went on to finish third in the Championship in the 2013–14 season, amassing 85 points and qualifying for the
Championship play-offs. After beating
Brighton & Hove Albion over two legs in the semi-finals, Derby faced McClaren's former employers QPR in the final at
Wembley Stadium, where they lost 1–0 to a last minute
Bobby Zamora goal. This left Derby's quest for a return to the Premier League extending into its seventh season. Derby enjoyed a strong opening two-thirds of the
2014–15 season, topping the table on three separate occasions and reaching the League Cup quarter-finals. However, after a 2–0 victory over
Charlton Athletic on 24 February took Derby to the top of the division, their form nose-dived and they managed just two wins, against eventually relegated
Wigan Athletic and Blackpool, in their remaining 13 fixtures. Despite the loan signings of
Darren Bent,
Tom Ince and
Jesse Lingard, they missed out on the play-offs altogether after a 3–0 defeat at home to
Reading on the last day of the season, when a point would have sufficed. The drastic loss in form was attributed by McClaren to injuries to key players, especially striker
Chris Martin, although local press also believed that constant speculation linking McClaren to the
Newcastle United job had been a contributing factor. On 25 May 2015, McClaren was dismissed by Derby.
Newcastle United On 10 June 2015, McClaren was appointed as the replacement for caretaker manager
John Carver as head coach of Premier League side Newcastle United. He signed a three-year deal with the club, with an option to extend the contract to eight years. He was also appointed to the Newcastle United board of directors, along with chief scout
Graham Carr and club ambassador
Bobby Moncur. On 18 October, after eight matches without a win, McClaren won his first Premier League game as manager of Newcastle with a 6–2 home victory against
Norwich City. This was McClaren's first win in the Premier League since his Middlesbrough side beat West Ham 2–0 on 17 April 2006. Six days after a 3–1 home defeat to
AFC Bournemouth, McClaren was dismissed by Newcastle on 11 March 2016.
Return to Derby County McClaren returned to Derby on 12 October 2016 for a second spell as manager, after the departure of
Nigel Pearson. His first game in charge during his second spell was a 1–0 home win against Leeds United. In his early months, McClaren was able to guide Derby away from the relegation zone and towards the play-off positions. He was dismissed on 12 March 2017 after a 3–0 loss to Brighton.
Queens Park Rangers On 18 May 2018, McClaren was appointed as the new manager of
Championship club
Queens Park Rangers on a two-year contract, replacing
Ian Holloway, who was dismissed by the club a week previously after a poor run of results in their
previous league campaign. McClaren was dismissed as QPR manager on 1 April 2019 following a 2–1 home defeat to Bolton Wanderers on 30 March 2019 and a run of one win in 15 games.
Jamaica national team On 31 July 2024, McClaren was named as the national coach of the
Jamaican men's team. McClaren's first game in charge was a 0–0 draw with
Cuba. His first win came four days later, as his side defeated
Honduras 2–1. With McClaren as head coach, Jamaica qualified for the
CONCACAF Gold Cup. In June 2025 at the final tournament of the
CONCACAF Gold Cup Jamaica was knocked out after the group stage with one win and two defeats. On 19 November 2025, despite earning a place in the
inter-confederation play-offs for a chance to compete at the
2026 FIFA World Cup, McClaren voluntarily resigned as Jamaican national coach after the team missed out on direct qualification to the tournament, drawing 0–0 at home with
Curaçao in the final match of
Group B. Jamaica would ultimately not qualify for the tournament, losing 1–0 to
DR Congo after extra time in their qualification final match. ==Other roles==