Nottingham Forest Sack Billy Davies And Snap Up Steve McClaren

Just a day after giving the popular Billy Davies the chop, Nottingham Forest have surprisingly appointed former England boss Steve McClaren as their new manager on a three-year contract. The club believe that the 50-year-old's 'proven track record' will be key in helping them gain promotion to the Premier League after two consecutive years of play-off heartache.

Forest agonisingly missed out on promotion to the Premier League last season after they were defeated 3-2 by the eventual winners Swansea in the play-offs. It was a similar story the season before when they were beaten 6-4 on aggregate by Blackpool who too went on to win promotion. These failings along with Davies' difficult relationship with the club's board have ultimately cost the 47-year-old his job. It is unknown how the fans will react to McClaren's almost instant appointment as Davies was extremely popular.

McCalren has been out of work since being sacked by German club Wolfsburg in February, and in the last few weeks he has been repeatedly linked with a move back to the Premier League. At one point he was the odds-on favourite to join Aston Villa until a scheduled meeting between the two parties was called off by the Villa board due to fears of a fans backlash.

Despite his relative success at club level McClaren is still vividly remembered for his failure to lead England to Euro 2008. After his torrid spell in charge of the national team ‘The wally with the brolly' moved abroad to Dutch side FC Twente in a bid to rebuild his tarnished reputation. McClaren had a huge impact at the club, guiding them to their first ever league title within just two years. He then moved to German club Wolfsburg in May last year but was sacked in February after an unsuccessful spell in charge.

Paddy Power have Middlesbrough available at 12/1 to win the Championship next season and 4/1 to get promoted.