Derided as a buffoonish figure of fun for attempting to keep dry while his England team failed to qualify for Euro 2008, McClaren is currently attracting far less media attention for steering Derby County to fourth from 14th in the Championship after a run of just two defeats in 15 matches since he replaced Nigel Clough in September.
Russia had exited Euro 2012 at the group stage, failed to qualify for the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and would have hosted the event in 2018 without experience at that level for 16 years had they not made it to Brazil.
"Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I'd be allowed to go," he revealed.
The intriguing subplot is that West Ham and Everton are locked in a race to qualify for Europe via the Fair Play League.
Afterwards Espírito Santo said: "We have to win a lot of points to qualify for the Champions League.
Blair, before I arrived, had been briefed about what individual members of the family had said to me and now how they might like to qualify their views and statements.
Iceland head to Croatia for the second leg of their World Cup play-off as they look to make history and qualify for their first major tournament.
She added that many transgender people do not have GRCs, either because, like Lynn, they don't yet qualify for them, object to them on principle, or do not want to go through the hassle and expense of applying.
Arsenal have been handed a daunting task to qualify for the Champions League knockout phase after the draw placed them in Group F with last season's runners-up, Borussia Dortmund, Rafael Benítez's Napoli and Marseille.
It will also be an Olympic year, after 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, and Oman hopes its crews will qualify for the dinghy and wind-surfing events, a stepping stone on the way to its first medals in 2024.
By no stretch of the imagination does this qualify as "news".
