Steve McClaren has admitted he didn’t sleep a wink for six months as he was “tested” by Manchester United ’s Treble-winners.
United became the first ever English club to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same campaign in 1999. They completed the feat in the most dramatic fashion possible after a pair of injury-time goals against Bayern Munich at Barcelona's Nou Camp.
McClaren joined the Red Devils during that season, replacing Brian Kidd as Sir Alex Ferguson’s number two. It was a tough baptism for McClaren, who had arrived from Derby County, where he was assistant to manager Jim Smith.
The former England boss recalled his early days at United during his appearance in the new documentary series on Prime Video, ‘99’, which chronicles that iconic campaign. He recalled: “Every day they tested each other and every day they tested me. I swear, I never slept a wink for six months."
But McClaren cherished the camaraderie of the group, adding: “My best days were Sunday mornings at the Cliff [United’s training ground]. We’d get the bacon butties on, big pot of tea, get the newspapers on the table.
“Everyone would be in the dressing room, the gaffer included, and we’d just be chewing the fat, reading the papers. [Pretends to pick up a paper] ‘Yorkey, [you’ve] made the front page again! That bubble, it’s only us, it’s only family, us against the world.”
McClaren left Old Trafford to take the manager’s job at Middlesbrough in 2001 but returned in 2022 as part of current boss Erik ten Hag’s coaching team. There have even been calls for McClaren to take charge of the team for the rest of the season as Ten Hag’s reign lurches from one abject performance to another.
Join the debate! What was your favourite moment of that legendary season? Let us know here.
Following Monday’s 4-0 drubbing at Crystal Palace, former United players Paul Scholes and Michael Owen called for Ten Hag to be sacked and for McClaren to be placed in charge on a temporary basis.
“There is no way his [McClaren’s] fingerprints are anywhere near that team,” Owen told Premier League productions. “He is a brilliant coach and that team is not being coached at all.
Scholes added: “He's not touching that team. The manager must not be letting him touch that team because everyone thinks we were a great team that attacked everybody, Steve McClaren put sessions on to make sure we stopped other teams, getting the distances and angles right.”
99 is available exclusively on Prime Video from Friday, May 17 when all three parts will drop globally
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