McClaren leads FC Twente to Dutch title glory

Former England manager Steve McClaren on Sunday led FC Twente to their first ever Dutch league title.

The club from the northern city of Enschede beat league rivals NAC Breda 2-0 to leave them with 86 points after 34 games, one point ahead of Ajax who demolished NEC Nijmegen 4-0. PSV Eindhoven finish third with 81 points.

Bryan Ruiz and Miroslav Stoch scored the goals after 23 and 74 minutes.

FC Twente were runners-up last season and their success completes a remarkable transformation under the guidance of McClaren, lampooned as “The Wally with the Brolly” after England’s dreams of qualifying for Euro 2008 were washed away in the Croatian rain two years ago.

The club, nicknamed The Tukkers (The Reds), previously won the title as SC Enschede in 1926 but were restructured following a merger in 1965.

The Englishman has transformed the club from the lively university town of Enschede in the northern Netherlands, just west of the German border.

Management increased the stadium’s capacity from 13,000 to 24,000 in 2009 with plans already afoot to further extend to 40,000 in the months to come.

McClaren becomes the first English manager since Bobby Robson at Porto in 1996 to win a major European league title.