Twelve years ago, when he was youth-team coach at Oxford United, Steve McClaren was so far down the pecking order he was forced to clamber off the team bus as it journeyed to an away game and change a punctured tyre.

Today, as he adapts to life as England's next manager, the wheel of fortune has turned full circle.

A man who spent an unexceptional playing career trawling the lower reaches of the Football League has evolved into the most pre-eminent coach in the land.

The transformation, which has been both rapid and radical, speaks of unparalleled ambition, relentless success and considerable achievement. Ultimately, though, McClaren's story is told through chapters of change.

Vast fluctuations of fortune that have taken him on a journey to the very pinnacle of the English game. Radical club overhauls that turned Derby County into an established Premiership force, Manchester United into European champions and Middlesbrough into UEFA Cup finalists. And innumerable innovations that transformed the careers of almost every player he came into contact with.

In football, as in the wider world, to stand still is effectively to go backwards. During the course of the last decade, McClaren's career has been the only thing more progressive than the methods and techniques he has employed to assist it along the way.

Not, of course, that things always looked like progressing so smoothly. Born in York on May 3, 1961, McClaren's playing days were hardly headline material.

As an honest but limited midfielder, he scored 16 goals in 178 appearances for Hull City before joining Second Division Derby County in 1985. He helped the Rams win promotion to the First Division, but quickly found himself frozen out of the first-team picture, spending brief spells at Lincoln and Bristol City before moving to Oxford in 1989.

His performances at the Manor Ground were similarly unspectacular and, three years later, he was forced to hang up his boots following a serious back injury.

For most lower-league journeymen, such a swift end to their playing days would have represented a personal tragedy. For McClaren, it was an opportunity to kickstart his faltering career.

"I think Steve had grown a bit frustrated because of all his injuries," said former Sunderland centre-half Andy Melville, who joined Oxford a season before McClaren hung up his boots. "He'd played a lot of games and, by that stage, I think he needed a new challenge to get his teeth into.

"The coaching side of things provided that and he was successful straightaway. Sometimes, it can be hard for a player to switch straight across to coaching and keep the respect of the people he had played with.

"For Steve, that was never a problem. He was so well prepared and so well organised that it was impossible not to respect him and learn from him.

"He started with the youth team and the younger lads used to rave about how detailed all of his talks and drills were. Within a few months he was in charge of the reserve team and, before the end of his first season, he was taking the first team for the pre-match warm-ups.

"He was always looking to better himself and he was able to do that because his organisation and preparation were so good."

They were qualities he would continue to exploit throughout his career.

With news of his achievements starting to spread, McClaren was appointed as assistant to Derby County manager Jim Smith in 1995. Within a year, the Rams had been promoted to the Premiership.

While he has subsequently gone on to bigger and better things with Manchester United and Middlesbrough, it was at Pride Park that the Yorkshireman began to hone the holistic approach that has come to characterise his managerial style.

At the time, English football was set in its ways, populated by players either unaware of how their lifestyle was affecting their fitness or unwilling to do anything to change it.

Under McClaren, Derby's players were dragged kicking and screaming into the modern age.

Supported by the equally-progressive Smith, McClaren invested £220,000 in a set of oscillating chairs that vibrated to send muscle-relaxing pulses through the body.

He oversaw the installation of a preparation chamber, boasting a space-age cinema screen, and led 12-minute warm-downs to the sound of soothing whale noises.

He pioneered the use of Pro Zone , a computer-based product that stores pictures and information on every pass, tackle, shot or run performed during a game, and employed the services of Bill Beswick, a sports psychologist who has followed him to Middlesbrough and is now likely to be involved with England.

Today, such practices are hardly novel. At the time, they were akin to a footballing revolution.

"Steve made an immediate impact with a wonderfully fresh approach," said Smith, who had previously managed Newcastle United. "He introduced innovations such as stretching exercises, massages, diets, technical data and fitness routines in conjunction with the specialist coach.

"It was a whole new training and match preparation routine, which put the accent on the athleticism as well as the skill of the players.

"The face of football was changing fast and I viewed Steve's role as essential in that progression. He turned out to be everything I had expected and a lot more."

He also turned out to be a wanted man. When Brian Kidd left Old Trafford in 1998, Sir Alex Ferguson knew exactly where to turn for his new number two. United chairman Martin Edwards might have introduced him to the media as Steve McClaridge but, five months later, McClaren was by Ferguson's side as Manchester United staged a dramatic comeback to beat Bayern Munich and claim the Champions League.

Ferguson's meticulous planning and unquenchable thirst for success clearly struck a chord with his number two and, for the next two years, the pair formed a profitable partnership at the head of the biggest club side in the world.

At the same time, McClaren was also introduced to the England set-up, taking charge of the national side alongside Peter Taylor for a 1-0 defeat in Italy after Kevin Keegan resigned in 2000.

"I spoke to Jim Smith about him when I was looking for an assistant and also had a chat with one or two other managers and a player who had worked under him," said Ferguson. "All I received were really good reports.

"I always remember Steve's first game was an 8-1 away win at Nottingham Forest.

"I just turned round to him and said, 'We are looking for some improvement'.

"He has always had a vision of how he could develop things and he has always used a lot of technology.

"I always felt he would succeed as a manager because he is a dedicated lad who works very hard."

With that in mind, Ferguson refused to stand in his protg's way when Middlesbrough came calling in the summer of 2001.

McClaren was appointed as Bryan Robson's successor at the Riverside and embarked on a five-year reign that was to elevate the Teessiders into the upper echelons of the English game.

A 128-year wait for a major trophy came to an end with 2004's Carling Cup win and, next Wednesday, the new England boss will make Middlesbrough history when he leads the club into their first European final.

That it will also be his final game in charge makes it a fitting finale.

Beyond that, it is England that will command his attention. After assisting Sven-Goran Eriksson at this summer's World Cup, McClaren will take over affairs from August 1.

It is a move he has been building towards for the whole of his managerial career, and one that is as far removed from his humble beginnings as it is possible to imagine.

Twelve years ago, McClaren was forced to abandon his journey to change a tyre.

Now, he is undeniably in the driving seat.