Former Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd has revealed how he and Alan Shearer tried to ‘steal’ Steve McClaren from Middlesbrough 10 years ago.
McClaren is set to be confirmed as Newcastle’s head coach later today as permanent successor to Alan Pardew.
But Shepherd has revealed McClaren could have beenMagpies manager a decade earlier – but he couldn’t get out of his Boro contract.
Shepherd said: “I applaud Newcastle for bringing McClaren in. I think it’s a great move.
“Alan Shearer persuaded me to have a meeting with him (McClaren) 10 years ago. We tried to steal him from Middlesbrough.
“Alan at the time had said that he was the best coach he had ever trained with.
“It was 10 years ago – I might have been ahead of my time!
“He’s a great guy but unfortunately he was unable to get released by Middlesbrough at the time.”
McClaren was manager of Middlesbrough from 2001 to 2006, winning the only trophy in their history, the League Cup, as well as guiding them to a UEFA Cup final.
McClaren comes in as the seventh boss in eight years under Mike Ashley, and faces a huge task to get United back up the table after their flirt with relegation.
Shepherd insists, however, that Newcastle have the right person in charge.
“I think he is strong enough,” he told Talksport. “I think he will work his own way and be anyone’s fool.
“I think they (Newcastle) always had Steve in mind but negotiations went on a bit longer than anybody thought. But who cares? They’ve got the right guy in my opinion.”