- published: 19 May 2014
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Karl Darlow (born 8 October 1990) is an English footballer who plays for Nottingham Forest as a goalkeeper. He is the grandson of former Wales international forward Ken Leek who was part of Wales 1958 World Cup squad.
Weeks after being released by Aston Villa at the age of 16, Eric Steele (Villa goalkeeper coach) recommended Darlow to Forest and he was signed up to their academy. After impressive displays in the reserve team Darlow was awarded a space on the bench where he was present for the majority of the 2010–11 season. His debut was against Crystal Palace, on the last day of the 2010–11 season, as a substitute for Lee Camp. The Reds won the game 3–0, a result that secured them a play-off spot.
In March 2012, Darlow joined Newport County in the Conference National league on loan for a month. He made his first appearance for the club in a 1–0 home win against Gateshead.
Stephen "Steve" McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English football manager and former player, currently manager of Dutch team FC Twente.
His managerial career began at Middlesbrough in the Premier League, who won the League Cup in 2004 and finished as runners-up in the 2006 UEFA Cup. McClaren then served as manager of England from August 2006 to December 2007. He was sacked after England failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship. In 2008 McClaren became manager of FC Twente, with whom he won the club's first Eredivisie championship in the 2009–10 season. He then worked as manager of VfL Wolfsburg in Germany between May 2010 and February 2011. After a short spell as manager of Nottingham Forest, he returned to Twente in January 2012.
Despite his successes at Manchester United, where he had been assistant manager to Alex Ferguson from 1999 to 2001, and Middlesbrough, he was vilified by the English media following England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008. He was dubbed 'the wally with a brolly', after his use of an umbrella to protect himself from rain during his final game in charge. McClaren's time in charge at FC Twente saw his professional reputation recover somewhat after he managed them to the Eredivisie title.