McLaren eyes instant return

Former England coach Steve McClaren is keen on an immediate return to management after being sacked by Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.

McClaren, 49, joined Wolfsburg in May 2010 after winning the Dutch Eredivisie title with FC Twente.

The Englishman leaves Wolfsburg 12th on the Bundesliga table, one point off the relegation zone after winning just once in their last 11 league matches.

The team also made an embarrassing exit from the DFB Pokal Cup at the hands of second tier outfit Energie Cottbus.

“Naturally, I am hugely disappointed that my time as head coach of VfL Wolfsburg has come to an end,” McClaren said in a statement.

“Since I came to the club, I have worked really hard to implement changes to bring stability and success on the field. I believe we have been making good progress and have only lost two of the last ten games in the Bundesliga.”

“Unfortunately, although I have enjoyed a good personal relationship with the senior management of the club and general manager, Dieter Hoeness, whom I fully respect, we have not been able to settle on a formula that I thought we needed to bring long-term success and therefore sadly the time has come for me and the club to move on.”

“I now look forward to the challenge of securing another management opportunity in football.”

McLaren’s assistant Pierre Littbarski has been appointed caretaker manager and will take charge of the team for the visit of Hamburg on Saturday.

Another former Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh will be leading the opposition at the Volkswagen Arena.

Veh took over from title-winning manager Felix Magath in July 2009, but lasted just six months in charge before suffering the same fate as McLaren.

“Of course it wasn’t nice back then,” Veh said.

“I still think we could have accomplished a lot more but as I always say, we coaches have to live with that. There’s always situations when things don’t go well and the coach is held accountable for that and is the first in line to go, even though that is not always the right decision.”

Veh believes Wolfsburg could prove to be an unknown quantity in their first outing under new leadership.

“There always is the chance that due to a change new energy is set free,” he said.

“But if it were this easy then there would be changes every three months. What remains is that we don’t know how they will play. Maybe they will have some new ideas.”