Steve McClaren's biggest impact at Manchester United could be in the dressing room

In September, Steve McClaren was in the check-in queue for our flight to Zurich the day before Manchester United's Champions League group stage match against Young Boys. Some United supporters spotted McClaren at the gate and asked him if he was attending the game. McClaren asked them who United were playing.

What a remarkable turn of events that, eight months later, McClaren is on the brink of returning to the club he first joined 23 years and three months ago. McClaren was by Sir Alex Ferguson's side for only two years and three months but the period covered the Treble, two more Premier League titles and the Club World Cup.

McClaren had the privilege of managing United with Ferguson absent in South Africa for his son's wedding during the November 2000 derby at Maine Road. Later that month, he assisted England caretaker manager Peter Taylor, eventually assuming the head coach role in August 2006.

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Yet as of last month, McClaren was an ad hoc adviser at Derby County, recently relegated to League One. He has not managed or coached since his dismissal by Queens Park Rangers in March 2019.

McClaren was flying to Switzerland for a coaching convention at the start of the season and he was hardly obliged to know the identity of United's opponents. He left in May 2001 and the last time McClaren was in the Old Trafford was for the Treble anniversary match in three years ago.

You would not have put it past Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who turned back the clock with most appointments while he was manager, to have approached McClaren. His imminent appointment to Erik ten Hag's backroom staff at United feels incongruous, despite McClaren's working