Steve McClaren ‘interested’ in West Ham manager’s job but has not held talks with relegated club

Steve McClaren, VfL Wolfsburg (Bongarts/Getty)

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EXCLUSIVE
By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Steve McClaren has not held talks with West Ham United but is interested in succeeding Avram Grant at Upton Park, Goal.com has learned.

The former England manager has been installed as favourite for the job by bookmakers today after frenzied speculation that he is being lined up to take over at the club who were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday.

Although there has been no contact between West Ham and McClaren, who was sacked as Wolfsburg manager in February, he is not against dropping down to the Championship.

“West Ham are a brilliant club with great fans and a great history, they take over the Olympic Stadium next year, so getting promotion next year would be vital,” a source close to McClaren told Goal.com.

“There has been no contact but Steve would certainly be interested. He would want to hear what the club’s plans are. It is early days, though, at this stage. The season has not finished yet and the situations will be changing at lots of clubs over the next few weeks.”

Grant was sacked as manager just over an hour after West Ham’s 3-2 defeat at fellow strugglers Wigan Athletic sealed their fate.

McClaren is available following the end of his Wolfsburg reign and wants a return to management in the summer.

Although his Bundesliga spell ended prematurely, McClaren’s stock has risen following his calamitous time in charge of the England team. The former Middlesbrough boss had a successful two-year spell in charge of Twente, which ended with him leading the Dutch club to the first Eredivisie title in their history.

By doing so, he became the first Englishman to manage a team in one of the major European leagues to a top-division domestic title since Bobby Robson with FC Porto in 1996.

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