I was terrified of Arsenal boss – I hid from him in the toilets before a game

Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger struck fear into some who crossed paths with him

Steve McClaren has confessed to hiding in a toilet cubicle as he prepared to go up against Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.

The former England manager shared the anecdote while reminiscing about his early managerial days at Middlesbrough in 2001. Despite having a wealth of coaching experience, including stints as assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and in the same role for England under Sven Goran Eriksson, nothing could prepare him for the pressures of being the main man.

His early weeks at Boro were indeed a trial by fire as his side suffered defeats and shipped goals at an alarming rate. Speaking on The Managers podcast with Mick McCarthy and Tony Pulis, he recalled: "I went in there and thought I'd play like Man United but the first four games, we'd not won, scored no goals and 13 goals against.

"'Pointless and clueless McClaren', that's what they called me. No one prepares you. 1,000 decisions a day, [like] what colour socks to wear in training..."

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Then came the daunting task of facing Wenger's Arsenal. This was during the peak of the intense rivalry between the Gunners and United, a feud McClaren had experienced close up as Ferguson's right-hand man.

Despite that, the thought of going up against such a formidable figure as Wenger was still overwhelming. He said: "We played Arsenal and before the game I looked and went, 'Oh my god, I just passed Arsene Wenger.' And we used to be real rivals, didn't we? I've gone, 'I've got to play him with this team, not Man United'.

"I couldn't get out of the toilet. I was going, 'Come on, McClaren, you've got to face it, come on, get out there!'"

Following such a difficult start to his tenure, McClaren quickly recognised he couldn't replicate United's style with a less talented squad. He admitted: "There was no way I could play the Man United way, I had to have a rethink.

"We had big Brian Deane [a target man] and I put him in the team. I had [Alen] Boksic. So we had Brian Deane and Boksic and all I did was: Two banks of four. I said, 'You four [the defenders], just keep a clean sheet and we'll win the game 1-0'. I changed it completely."

After that troubled start, McClaren achieved considerable success at the Riverside, securing the League Cup in 2004 and guiding Middlesbrough to the UEFA Cup final in 2006, where they lost to Sevilla. He succeeded Eriksson as England manager that summer after the World Cup but was dismissed after the Three Lions failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

The now 64-year-old returned to club football and delivered the Eredivisie title with Twente in 2010. Since then, McClaren has taken charge at Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest, Twente for a second spell, Derby County on two occasions, Newcastle United and QPR, though with varying degrees of success.

McClaren departed his most recent position with the Jamaican national team towards the end of last year following their failure to qualify for the World Cup.