Steve McClaren's road to redemption runs 10 miles or so west of the German border, winding through an area known as the Garden of the Netherlands. At its heart is the eclectic, slightly edgy university town of Enschede, a sort of mini Berlin and the home of McClaren's FC Twente. It is here that, on Sunday afternoon, the former England coach hopes to beat Feyenoord and, depending on Ajax's result, become the first English manager since Bobby Robson at Porto in 1996 to win a major European league title.
With two games left Twente – a Dutch equivalent of Ipswich or Norwich – are one point clear of Martin Jol's Ajax in the Eredivisie and on course to secure a first Championship since 1926. "We're optimistic but we haven't done it yet," McClaren says. "I just hope we can for the people here. They accepted me straight away and have taken me into their lives. This part of Holland is known as Tuckerland and I'm one of the Tuckers now."
Asked if it is correct that he is Enschede's most famous Tucker, the 48-year-old laughs before finally replying: "It's been a good two years here."
After finishing second last season Twente had tight hold of the title until Tuesday night when they suffered only their second defeat of the season, losing 1-0 at AZ Alkmaar hours after their team bus had been pelted by missiles hurled from a viaduct. Although everyone escaped injury it proved an unnerving experience, totally out of sync with two seasons during which McClaren has been met with such friendliness and openness that he has shed the guarded carapace developed by so many English – not to mention England – managers.
At Twente's training ground in Hengelo, the small satellite town adjacent to Enschede where he has a house, there is an open-door policy unheard of in Premier League environs. "People are very open," he says. "Anyone can come and wander round, watch us and discuss what we're doing. Journalists are welcome to come every day to see us train and talk to me or any player they want to. It's been quite a culture shock but it's been good, you have real relationships, real trust with journalists."
At Twente McClaren has rediscovered the benefits of being himself. Convinced spin was king and success in football impossible without the right image, his time in charge of Middlesbrough and England saw him become overly obsessed with presentation and public relations.
One Friday morning at Middlesbrough's training ground reporters attending McClaren's weekly news conference noted a stray piece of A4 paper left lying on the desk. It turned out to be a crib sheet, listing questions he was likely to be asked – along with appropriate answers.
Small wonder Boro's then manager routinely ran late for such briefings. Quite apart from being prepped by a press officer, he never spoke to journalists without also visiting Bill Beswick, the club's former sports psychologist. Beswick advised him on how to put a positive spin on the most unpromising situation but McClaren merely seemed strangely wooden as he trotted out clichéd sound-bites punctuated by the latest buzzword.
No one in the Netherlands accuses Twente's manager of being similarly "false". Indeed McClaren, who has been accompanied by no English staff, is thriving without his old, once sizeable, support network. "I haven't brought any English connections," says the man whose team regularly attracts 24,000-strong, unbelievably noisy, sell-out crowds. "My assistants are all Dutch, there are some fantastic young coaches here. I thought it was important to embrace and understand the culture of the club and Dutch football rather than import a different one. Anyway when Sir Bobby Robson advised me to take this job he said: 'Go, son, and make sure you go on your own.'"
In a country significantly less fixated by celebrity than England, McClaren has rediscovered the difference between substance and superficiality and decided he will stand or fall by virtue of his coaching and man-management ability. "There's an intense spotlight on football here," he says. "But it's hours of discussion about tactics, technique and quality rather than the sort of things the English talk about. The Dutch aren't really hooked up on fame."
Although the €5.5m (£4.8m) McClaren invested in signing Bryan Ruiz, a free-scoring Costa Rican forward bought from Ghent who now boasts 25 goals in 44 league appearances, shows he has not lost his transfer market eye, a tight budget has precluded the possibility of signing players along the lines of the Boro recruits Gaizka Mendieta, Bolo Zenden and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. "This is a community club, owned by the fans, so we have to sell players every year and polish up rough diamonds," he says.
Forced to rely on improving personnel on the training ground, McClaren has reminded himself he is an exceptionally good coach. These days, though, he is a considerably more daring manager than Middlesbrough fans may recall.
An enthusiastic convert to the Dutch interpretation of 4-3-3 featuring two genuine wingers, this long-term purist has been hailed as a true disciple of total football by none other than Johan Cruyff. "I decided I'd better adapt to 4-3-3," McClaren says. "If it was good enough for thousands of Dutchmen it was good enough for me. And in Holland, football is about performance, fans can see their team lose but still be happy if they've played well."
This attitude has proved remarkably liberating. "I'm not frightened of failure any more because, after the failure with England, I've seen the ultimate," he says. "It didn't kill me and I thought, 'Well, what more can they throw at me?' It's made me a wiser and more experienced manager and I'd like to think a better person."
A willingness to uproot from the family home in North Yorkshire, which this frequent flier on KLM's Amsterdam-Durham Tees Valley route tries to return to on a weekly basis, marked McClaren out as far braver than the majority of his compatriots. Indeed he has joined the late Robson – a staunch ally and mentor – Terry Venables and Roy Hodgson in becoming one of the very few English managers to pack his tracksuit, unearth his passport and reap rich dividends.
Despite the year remaining on his Twente contract and a claim that "I do enjoy it here, I'd like to stay", it is inconceivable that offers from England and elsewhere in Europe will not be forthcoming this summer.
Expat life suits him but has, inevitably, contained a few tricky moments. Remember that comedy foreign accent – a YouTube hit – McClaren affected while answering a Dutch journalist? "My three sons all said: 'Bloody hell, Dad,'" he acknowledges. "But I have noticed that, when people come over from England to see me, they all do the same. They suddenly start talking very slowly in strange voices and I have to say: 'The Dutch can understand, they speak perfect English.'"
