A former England manager has admitted to be overwhelmed about the prospect of facing Arsenal
13:30, 08 Feb 2026Updated 14:13, 08 Feb 2026
Steve McClaren recalls facing Arsene Wenger as a manager for the first time(Image: The Managers/YouTube)
Steve McClaren has admitted to cowering in a toilet cubicle as he prepared to face Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. The revelation came as the former England boss recalled his first few weeks as a manager with Middlesbrough in 2001.
McClaren was a vastly experienced coach by then, having been assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United while holding the same role within the England set-up under Sven Goran Eriksson. However, it did little to prepare him for the pressure of being the boss, with his opening weeks at Boro proving a baptism of fire.
Speaking on The Managers podcast with Mick McCarthy and Tony Pulis, he recalled: “I went in there and thought I’d play like Man United but the first four games, we’d not won, scored no goals and 13 goals against.
“‘Pointless and clueless McClaren’, that’s what they called me. No one prepares you. 1,000 decisions a day, [like] what colour socks to wear in training…”
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Then came a meeting with Wenger’s Arsenal. It was at the height of the rivalry between the Gunners and United, which McClaren had witnessed first hand as Ferguson’s number two. The prospect of facing such an imposing manager and team was almost too much to bear.
He said: “We played Arsenal and before the game I looked and went, ‘Oh my god, I just passed Arsene Wenger.’ And we used to be real rivals, didn’t we? I’ve gone, ‘I’ve got to play him with this team, not Man United’.
McClaren during his tough early days as Middlesbrough manager(Image: Michael Mayhew/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
“I couldn’t get out of the toilet. I was going, ‘Come on, McClaren, you’ve got to face it, come on, get out there!'”
After such a tough start to his reign, McClaren soon realised he couldn’t play like United with inferior players. He admitted: “There was no way I could play the Man United way, I had to have a rethink.
“We had big Brian Deane [a target man] and I put him in the team. I had [Alen] Boksic. So we had Brian Deane and Boksic and all I did was: Two banks of four. I said, ‘You four [the defenders], just keep a clean sheet and we’ll win the game 1-0’. I changed it completely.”
McClaren, then of Twente, ahead of a match against Wenger’s Arsenal in 2008(Image: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
Following that rocky start, McClaren enjoyed great success with Boro, winning the League Cup in 2004 and reaching the UEFA Cup final in 2006, losing to Sevilla. Following that year’s World Cup, he replaced Eriksson as England boss, only to be sacked after the Three Lions failed to qualify for Euro 2008.
McClaren returned to club management, winning the Dutch league title with Twente in 2010. The 64-year-old has since managed Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest, Twente again, Derby County twice, Newcastle United and QPR, but with limited success.
McClaren resigned from his recent job with the Jamaican national team late last year after they were pipped to World Cup qualification by minnows Curacao.
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