Steve McClaren has set his sights on returning Derby County to the top flight of English football after being appointed head coach on a three-year contract.

The 52-year-old former Oxford United midfielder and England boss succeeds Nigel Clough, who was sacked at the Sky Bet Championship outfit on Saturday.

Paul Simpson, another ex-U’s player, joins McClaren as first-team coach, with Eric Steele, formerly of Manchester United, as goalkeeping coach.

McClaren, who has been a coach under Harry Redknapp at QPR since the beginning of July, said: “Getting into the play-offs, challenging, getting into the top two and getting into the Premier League. Of course that’s the ambition, but that’s a long way off.

“We’ve still got to assess what we have here. They have excellent young players that play a great style of football.

“Nigel has done a great job in that respect and we are coming in here and we have to develop that. That’s our job and we have two and a half years to do it.

“They have stabilised over the past three or four years and now we want to push on. We can’t wait to get started.”

McClaren’s appointment sees him return for a third spell at the club he served first as a player and then assistant to former Oxford United boss Jim Smith, whom he helped to guide Derby to the Premier League in the 1995-96 season.