McClaren and the Evolutionary Scale

It is generally agreed that Steve McClaren has enjoyed the shortest ever honeymoon period of any England manager and in the light of a dismal goalless draw against Macedonia at Old Trafford and an embarrassing 2-0 defeat against Croatia in Zagreb, his suitability for the job is already being called into question.

Is he good enough? Does he know what he is doing? Or is it unfair and unreasonable to be asking these questions so early?

We shall say only this. It should be noted that, although Middlesbrough won a trophy during his time as manager, he left the club in precisely the same modest league position in which he found it. And it is also worth remembering that, rightly or wrongly, he was far from being the Football Association’s first choice as successor to Sven Goran Eriksson, with whom he worked for several years.