McClaren nears redemption (of sorts!)
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- Written by Darren Douglas
This weekend was the penultimate round of fixtures for this season's Eredivisie, AZ Alkmaar have already clinched an historic second ever title, but elsewhere there are still matters to be settled. So where else better to start the round up than with the clash between Champions elect AZ and second placed FC Twente.
Steve McClaren has most impressively guided FC Twente to the upcoming KNVB Beker (Dutch cup) final. They will face Heerenveen in two weeks time and will start as favourites to win the trophy for the third time in their history. On top of that they reached the last sixteen of the Uefa Cup losing to Marseille on penalties, it was the first time FC Twente had survived European football into the New Year for thirty seasons!
On the face of it there’s nothing out of the ordinary about the 2008-2009 Premier League season. Manchester United are top and on course for their third consecutive title, the remaining Champions League spots are occupied by the usual suspects and West Brom are rooted to the foot of the table. 
The Beautiful Game is an over-used phrase: football is often an arduous spectator sport. When it’s good, it’s really good. When it’s bad, it’s awful. And when it’s somewhere in-between – which is where it spends most of its time – it’s usually pretty turgid.
The footballing news today is predictably dominated by the Champions League clash between Arsenal and Manchester United tonight. Usually I would therefore try and find something else to talk about, but apologies the pull is too much and besides it would be neglectful not to wax lyrical about a match that will probably be watched by millions of people across the world.