Steve McClaren is set to escape the Manchester United cull that is expected to claim Erik ten Hag and the rest of his backroom staff at the end of the season.
The former England coach, who was brought back to Old Trafford when Ten Hag became United boss in the summer of 2022, has a long-standing professional relationship with INEOS chief Dave Brailsford. Brailsford will play a key role in the decision on whether new United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe decides to allow Ten Hag to complete the final year of his contract in the summer after a calamitous campaign at Old Trafford.
The Dutchman’s extensive coaching staff would also pay the price for failure - but McClaren is regarded as someone who INEOS can continue to work with in any new managerial regime. The 63-year-old became friendly with Brailsford when he was in charge of Derby a decade ago.
He invited the cycling guru to speak to his Rams’ squad about his philosophy of marginal gains and how he turned Great Britain into the world ’s most dominant nation in the sport. The pair discovered they shared a number of similar ideas on sports science, psychology and methods to improve sportsmen.
It was McClaren’s forward-thinking approach that prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to make him his assistant in 1999, just months before United became the first club to complete the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup Treble. He later worked alongside Ten Hag in Holland at FC Twente.
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McClaren is seen as a safe pair of hands and it was even mooted that he could replace Ten Hag as manager for the final games of the season until Ratcliffe decided to stick with the Dutchman with the FA Cup final looming.
Former United forward Michael Owen recently went as far to suggest McClaren could have little to do with the club's recent struggles. “We’ve played under Steve McClaren. There’s no way his fingerprints are anywhere near that team," he said.
"He is a brilliant coach and that team is not being coached at all. No way.
“There is no way on earth he has got anything to do with that team. It’s impossible. That team is absolutely clueless, right the way through it. Steve McClaren is a top operator and I can only think other people are coaching the first team and he’s a bystander.”
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