Steve McClaren joins Steve Bruce amongst the unemployed after latest failure | OneFootball

Steve McClaren and Steve Bruce are surely the proof that for a certain group of English managers of a certain age, no matter how many failures they have, somebody will always eventually give them another job.

Back in July 2024, the former Newcastle United pair of them were fighting it out to be the new manager of Jamaica, with a much expanded 48 team 2026 World Cup finals, surely the new manager should be able to lead them to qualification.

Less than 16 months ago, it was Steve McClaren who was handed a two year contract and the job of taking them to the next World Cup.

On Tuesday night, Steve McClaren resigned after the humiliation of failing to win at home and seeing Curacao qualify for the World Cup ahead of them.

With a population of 350,000 Iceland had been the smallest ever country to qualify for a World Cup, fair to say that 150,000 Curacao have smashed that.

Steve McClaren lasting less than 16 months, whilst Steve Bruce has yet again been employed AND sacked with that same time period, lasting only 13 months at Blackpool.

Surely nobody will give either of these two another job in management…watch this space!

Steve McClaren announcing he was stepping down last night after the dismal Jamaica failure – 18 November 2025:

“Over the last 18 months I have given everything I have to this job.

“Leading this team has been one of the greatest honours of my career.

“But football is a results business and tonight we have fallen short of our goal, which was to qualify from this group.

“It is the responsibility of the leader to step forward, take accountability and make decisions in the best interests of the team.

“After deep reflection and an honest assessment of where we are and where we need to go, I have decided to step down as head coach of the Jamaican national team.

“Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is to recognise when a fresh voice, new energy and a different perspective is required to move this team forward.”

The three Concacaf heavyweights  (USA, Mexico and Canada) all had automatic qualification as co-hosts, meaning this should have been pretty much an open goal for Jamaica to be one of those qualifying.

With Steve McClaren now gone, Jamaica still have a longshot chance but the odds are against them.

There will be six teams in the inter-confederation play-offs, who will compete for two places in the 2026 World Cup finals.

Bolivia, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname will be drawn into semi-finals and the two winners to emerge from that, will play either Iraq or DR Congo.