The rap sheet was long enough: his disastrous spell as England manager, summed up in one pathetic image, the ‘wally with the brolly’. The newly-acquired, ludicrously-white teeth, more suitable for a Love Island hunk called Brandon than a tough ex-Hull City footballer from Yorkshire called Steve. The bizarre decision to speak English with a Dutch accent while manager of FC Twente. A failure as a club manager in Germany which took the shine off his success in the Netherlands. Getting sacked by three clubs in three years (2016-2019).

But this weekend, as United travel to face a brittle Liverpool, with his 62nd birthday not too far away, no one is poking fun at McClaren any more. Erik ten Hag is, deservedly, getting the plaudits for helping to turn Manchester United from a celebrity-driven shambles into a tight unit capable of not just competing for, but winning trophies again.

​McClaren’s not at the wheel but he’s helping show the way, providing advice to the relatively new manager. Offering a strong presence on the training ground with an understanding of the Premier League which not many No 2s have.

When he was sacked by QPR in 2019, on April Fool’s Day as it happens, it seemed like McClaren’s top-end coaching career was over. Yet there he is, at Ten Hag’s side and at the heart of an Old Trafford revolution which makes United more confident ahead of a trip to Anfield than they have been for some time.

It was a surprise to many when Alex Ferguson hired McClaren at United two decades ago, as he was not well known, but Ferguson’s old friend Jim Smith mentioned a young coach at his Derby County side called McClaren (just 38 at the time). He played a role in United’s successes and then enjoyed a thrilling stint at Middlesbrough and landed the dream job as England coach.

So where did it all go wrong, to the extent that he would be seen as one of the worst managers for both England and Newcastle United (and that’s saying something given their managerial history)?

He definitely had something at the start of his coaching and managerial career but somewhere along the path he lost his way. Lost his focus.

Roy Keane, a man who boasts of his ability to spot bluffers and spoofers the minute they walk into the room, was won over by McClaren the day he arrived at Manchester United in 1999, replacing club icon Brian Kidd as Alex Ferguson’s assistant. 

But McClaren changed jobs, seemed to change personality as his status grew, and Keane’s view of him also changed.

“The problem with him with England appeared to be that he was too pally, joining in at training and going around calling John Terry ‘JT’ and Steven Gerrard ‘Stevie G’,” Keane once said.

Did the hungry 38-year-old coach who landed at Old Trafford full of ideas, ambition and intelligence just get lazy, allow himself to be lost to the fame game, summed up by the “yesh, I am speaking Dutch” episode at FC Twente or half-hearted attempts to turn around fading powers like Newcastle and QPR?

Certainly, the impressive McClaren who almost won a European trophy with Middlesbrough was a poor imitation of the man who was sacked by Newcastle after splurging millions. And he certainly was not an obvious candidate to work with Ten Hag at United.

It was expected that Ten Hag would do Dutch and bring in his own people to assist him. But he had already worked with McClaren at FC Twente, when the latter was the boss and Ten Hag the assistant. The duo worked well enough together to lead the unfashionable side to the Champions League.

The unit of Dutch boss with English assistant has worked well for this English club but also allowed McClaren win back his name and reputation.

He’s given Ten Hag a first-hand account of the successful recipe of the Ferguson-era United, but it’s also believed that McClaren’s reputation as a strict but fair hand, a disciplinarian whose rules make sense, have put a structure on the United squad that was previously missing and players reportedly enjoy his hands-on approach in training.

Two decades older but wiser, back where it all started with the bit between his teeth again and no longer the butt of jokes – more Mac the Knife than Mike Bassett.