‘He won’t like it if I talk about this’ – Steve McClaren reveals touchy subject around Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag
STEVE McCLAREN has hilariously revealed the one subject Erik ten Hag “won’t like” him talking about.
Former England boss McClaren, 63, was Ten Hag’s assistant at Old Trafford for two years until this summer.
It was his second stint at the club having previously worked as one of Sir Alex Ferguson‘s coaches between 1999 and 2001.
He left Man Utd to take the Jamaica national team job, drawing 0-0 with Cuba in his opening game before they beat Honduras 2-1 two weeks ago.
Now he has reflected on his time back at the Theatre of Dreams, working under the manager who was his assistance at FC Twente 15 years ago.
And McClaren admitted Ten Hag‘s sartorial decision not to wear socks as part of his pitchside outfit is not something he would want discussed.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “Well, that’s just fashion. Dutch fashion.
“Don’t get me on to his fashion! He won’t like that.”
McClaren also spoke about the relationship he has with Ten Hag, insisting they are able to be brutally honest with one another.
He added: “He’s great. He knows I don’t take him too seriously and he doesn’t take me too seriously.
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“We kind of have that English-Dutch banter. We had that when he was [my] assistant.
“We could be honest with each other. That’s what he wanted. So that’s what he got.”
McClaren commented on the spat between Ten Hag and Cristiano Ronaldo which occurred at the start of his second spell at Old Trafford.
The Man Utd boss bombed Ronaldo out after he publicly criticised the club in an interview with Piers Morgan.
McClaren said: “I couldn’t fault his [Ten Hag’s] approach. He really handled it very well. I said at the time he was the right man to go in.
“That was shown in the way he handled [the departure of Cristiano] Ronaldo. He [Ten Hag] came in with set standards. Set rules. Set way of playing. And if you didn’t run, you didn’t play. He was rigid on that. Which the Dutch are.
“He knew that was what was needed. There could be no flexibility, no way the players could manoeuvre [out of that responsibility].
“This is what you had to do – or you didn’t play. And he took on Ronaldo, and quite rightly. Other managers have tried to adapt. Erik didn’t feel it was necessary to do that.
“[Ralf] Rangnick had tried and it hadn’t quite worked out and Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] the same. So he [Ten Hag] stuck to his guns and developed other players.”