Great leaders inspire men to victory. Steve McClaren will be remembered as a wolly with a brolly.England fans lost faith in McClaren when we only managed a 2-0 victory in Andorra. A whole qualifying campaign later, McClaren has distinguished himself as one of only two men to fail to lead England into a major tournament since the glory of '66.
A great man would have delivered his resignation after the Three Lions' dismal loss to Croatia. Steve, however, refused to step down.
McClaren's performance with Middlesbrough wasn't exceptionally impressive. His club were at best a Cup side—they managed a Carling Cup victory, an FA Cup Semifinal, and a UEFA Cup Final.
An England manager needs to know how to perform in league competition; a league is where you become a "manager" per se. You learn your trade by making tactical decisions and dealing with players on a day-to-day basis—something McClaren never excelled at with Boro.
I'm sure FA chief Brian Barwick felt compelled to make a quick decision after missing out on first choice Phil Scolari—and the man from Yorkshire was the easy option.
But he obviously wasn't the right one.
If the Sven-Goran Eriksson Era had made anything clear, it's that England didn't need a well-groomed man at the top—they needed a tactician, a born leader who wouldn't cower behind a cup of coffee and an umbrella in inclement weather.
So much for that.
We can blame McClaren for his tactical ineptitude or weak managerial qualities, but his decision to drop Paul Robinson on the eve of the Croatia game cost him his job, his reputation, and the respect of an entire nation.
Steve McClaren, in his own words, "failed"—he ruined England's reputation as a world-beating nation, and made us look like clowns on the international field.
We may still live on today, but we "died" as a nation at Wembley.
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