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Wally in Holland... McClaren speaksh a load of gibberish
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter15.08.08
As England manager he didn't make much sense. Now Steve McClaren has gone one, ridiculous step further in his new job as a football coach in Holland.
He has carried on talking utter rubbish in English - but this time with a bizarre Dutch accent.
In a television interview that has become a huge hit on YouTube, McClaren appearsh - sorry appears - to emulate the great Dutch coaches Marco van Basten and Guus Hiddink by trying to sound like them.
Speaking ahead of his new club FC Twente's clash with Arsenal this week, McClaren tells the female interviewer: "Championsh League, Liverpool or Arshenal, I thought one of them we would draw and it is Arshenal I think.
"To experiensh big gamesh, Championsh League... Arshenal... The Emiratesh... will be fantashtic for the playersh, not just for now but for the future ash well. I shay I think we are not just... what you call?... underdogsh but mashive underdogsh."
There will be speculation that McClaren was deliberately speaking with a Dutch accent as a private joke but reports today suggest it was no prank and that is how he speaks English over there.
"It is not a joke," a source close to McClaren has said.
Certainly there has been a long tradition of foreign players coming to this country and speaking English with regional accents; witness the Scouse accent Jan Molby developed at Liverpool. But a native Englishman speaking his own language with a comedy accent appears unprecedented.
McClaren, 47, was dubbed the Wally with the Brolly after sheltering under an umbrella as England crashed to defeat in the pouring rain against Croatia during Euro 2008.
He was sacked after that game but moved to Holland to resurrect his career.
Sadly, while he may sound like a Dutchman, his team is playing less than total football. On Wednesday night, FC Twente lost 2-0 to Arsenal and now face an early - if expected - exit from the Champions League.
Or as McClaren might say: "Shome you winsh, shome you looshe." Although, of course in his case, he losht gamesh too many, we thinksh.
Reader views (6)
Hilarious! Can't wait to see his speech after the return leg at the Emirates.
- Rosie, London,UK.
This is normal when someone speaks the language of the host country every day at work. You then, when asked to speak in your mother tongue, have a slight accent.
- Malcom Brown, Newcastle, England.
Wally is trying to speak like his daddy Sven.....Shame Sven wont try being a cow by adopting an accent, he's foreign he already has one!
Can this guy stoop any lower than he has in my eyes? Great that he got the job though might be a learning curve for him to realize that hoof and run isn't the way football is to be played.
- Gotti, London
How on earth did this moron get appointed the England job in the first place?
What a pecker-head
- Andy, sussex
I thought it was a comedy sketch by an impersonator... Hilarious.
All he needed was so say 'for sure' or 'for shure'. Did you see the European style hand and arm gestures with his raised speech inflexions..? Classic
Ya da man Shteve
- Paul, Bromley
Shurely thats not Dutch. Ishn't he doing a Shean Connery impresshion.
- Steven Patrick M, London, UK
