Incoming England manager McClaren gets ringing endorsement

[nickgutierrez]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-englandmcclarennewsmaker&prov=reuters&type=lgns

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - Steve McClaren's rise to the peak of English soccer could be described as quietly meteoric.

Little more than a decade ago McClaren, appointed on Thursday to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager, was a youth team trainer at Oxford United in the lower reaches of the league.

Number two to Eriksson, and Alex Ferguson when Manchester United won the European Cup in 1999, McClaren was second choice for the England job behind Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.

His relative success in his first managerial job at Middlesbrough gave McClaren, 45 on Wednesday, the edge over other home-grown candidates and the number one job when Scolari pulled out of the running.

In other words, he doesn't completely suck, and his name isn't Sven. That's all it takes to manage England nowadays, it seems.

[T_i_B]

1. Well Middlesborough are in the UEFA cup final

Which is an achevement. The problem for the England manager's job is that all the media attention turns it into something of a poison chalice.

Anyway, I thought that I might as well post the incident that everyone over here has been talking about today. It's local government elections in England but the politician on everyone's lips is dear old Boris Johnson for this ahem..."tackle". Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWIUp19bBoA

[nickgutierrez]

2. He looked like he was playing our football.

Good job by the opposing player of not leaving his spikes in the ground - that could have been a nasty injury.

He did get a red card for that, didn't he?

EDIT - is he staying with Boro after he takes the job?

[T_i_B]

3. Apparently Boris was trying to head the ball!

Odd really as the ball was on the ground! Mind you, this is Boris Johnson we are talking about here.

And I haven't checked, but I would doubt that McClaren will be staying with Boro after the world cup.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=666772006

The 42-year-old shadow higher education secretary used all of his ample bulk to floor Germany's Maurizio Gaudino with a head butt to the groin.

After the match, which England lost 4-2, Mr Johnson said: "I'm a rugby player, really, and I knew I was going to get to him, and when he was about two yards away I just put my head down. There was no malice. I was going for the ball with my head, which I understand is a legitimate move in soccer."

[nickgutierrez]

4. *Insert joke about heading balls here*

Did he think anybody would believe that? Like you said, the ball was on the ground!