Former good and England manager Steve McClaren has thrown his weight behind the relentless campaign to get renowned wheeler-dealer Harry Redknapp installed as national team coach.

McClaren, a Taurus, was a well-thought-of assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson when Manchester United won the treble in 1999, and then became a good manager at Middlesbrough.

He then went on to become a bad manager at England, before going on to establish himself as a good manager at AZ Alkmaar and, subsequently, a bad manager at Wolfsburg.

Nottingham Forest was the scene of his inglorious return to life in England, a haggard-looking McClaren leading the Championship side to a club record seventy-two defeats in three months.

He said of the permanently irritated Tottenham Hotspur manager: “Harry’s credentials are as good as anybody else’s.

“I say the England manager has to be experienced, he has to have European experience, and he has to have won something. Harry fits the bill in all of those.”

It is understood that McClaren then cleared his throat in an exaggerated manner, quickly combed his hair and grabbed his lapels.