Credit Steve McClaren For Fighting Back

Easter's traditionally a time for good news and hope so Steve McClaren's story at Twente Enschede fits the bill. The ridiculed England coach is on the brink of significant achievement.

McClaren never was the man to lead the national side, that much is clear. Whether he deserved the vicious 'wally with the brolly' headlines is another matter. Yes, he made mistakes but then his England players deserved to shoulder some of the blame too.

What most people forgot - if they even bothered to find out- is that McClaren had a very solid reputaion in the game before his appointment.

Innovative Number 2 to Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, winning the League Cup with Middlesbrough and taking them to a UEFA Cup Final- not a bad CV at all, though not one that should have got him the England job.

We can add to that CV resilence now. After his mauling in the tabloids the York man chose to take up the coaching reins in Holland- a brave step for him and also by the leadership at Twente. His bad luck quickly followed him as he immediately drew Arsenal in a Champions League qualifier.

Twente are not one of Dutch soccer's 'Big 3. Their qualification for the Champions League was a streaky one and McClaren took over a squad stripped of its best player, Orlando Engelaar, the Dutch international midfielder.

Twente were never going to match Arsenal and the new boss had no time to work with his new charges. The pasting they got brought more cheap jibes in the press.

The accident-prone image was topped off by an embarrassing video on You Tube of McClaren being interviwed in a Dutch version of 'Franglish' as he started using the typical cadences of Dutch English familiar from the likes of Martin Jol.

Any yet since then he's been reminding people why he was highly thought of in the first place. Twente are in second position in the Eredivisie and could return to the Champions League. A Europa Cup spot seems assured at the very least.

McClaren's squad are also in the last four of the Dutch Cup and Ajax. PSV and Feyenoord are all eliminated. The Cup is very winnable for them. Twente also got to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup and were only eliminated by Marseille on penalties.

Twente's excellent 2007/08 performance was a tough act to follow but the new manager is on the verge of doing that. He's taken them further in Europe than they've been for a long time and he could yet lead the Reds to a trophy they have only won twice before.

All of which wouldn't be a bad start for a 'wally with a brolly' and on the back of his efforts in Holland we may yet see Steve McClaren back in the Premiership one day.