Filed under: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Championship, Football
Steve McClaren was on a mission to help Nottingham Forest make the final step - but is now facing a renewed battle to salvage his already battered reputation after falling on his sword at the City Ground.McClaren's decision to rebuild his career in the unforgiving environment of the Championship was always going to be a gamble but instead of a step forward, he has taken about 20 steps back.
In a bid to prevent his shattered public image from suffering any more damage, he resigned at Forest with a miserable two wins from 10 league matches and is surely destined for a long sabbatical from the game.
Only a matter of months ago he was overlooked for a job interview at Aston Villa and one can only wonder how he would have got on in the Premier League.
With vaster resources, as he would have had at Villa, would he have gone some way to repairing the damage of his doomed spell with England? We will never know.
There was no suggestion that Forest - a club not renowned for itchy trigger fingers - were going to sack McClaren but the former England coach decided to force the issue and walk out without a penny in compensation.
The warning signs have been there for quite some time. Before a ball was even kicked he was pleading for new signings and described the close season as the most frustrating of his career.
It is understood that crisis talks between McClaren and chairman Nigel Doughty were held as early as July, after a friendly with Kidderminster.
McClaren made clear even at that time he feared a long hard slog but his words fell on deaf ears. The next two months or so have been excruciating for anyone with any connection or affinity with Forest, though Billy Davies must be laughing himself to sleep at the moment.
Loan moves for Michael Kightly of Wolves and Leicester's Lloyd Dyer - in a vain attempt to provide his ailing team with some much needed width - were vetoed by Doughty on Friday and this set the wheels in motion for McClaren's departure.
At his pre-match media conference he claimed he had struck a gentleman's agreement with the Forest board to walk away if things weren't working. Everyone at that briefing reached the same conclusion - he was sowing the seeds for his exit.
And so it proved after a catastrophic throwaway of three points against Birmingham, with chairman Doughty also set to depart, though he will retain his financial commitments.
Doughty has clearly been losing interest for years and cannot escape criticism but finds himself in the unfortunate position of being a nice bloke stuck in a position he could not handle.
So what now for McClaren? It appears the Championship was alien to him so few, if any, clubs would offer him a chance at redemption.
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