McClaren sacked as England boss

Steve McClaren was sacked as England head coach on Thursday following their failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals, the Football Association confirmed.

McClaren's short reign in charge ended after the 3-2 defeat by Croatia on Wednesday dashed England's hopes of playing at next year's European Championship." At a meeting this morning the FA board unanimously decided to terminate the contract of Steve McClaren with immediate effect," FA chairman Geoff Thompson told a news conference.

"The Board agreed to a full root and branch examination of the whole England set-up with immediate effect."Of course we have no divine right to play in major tournaments but qualification is expected."

Thompson said no time frame had been put on finding a replacement but said FA chief executive Brian Barwick had been given full authority to identify the new coach. The FA said it had also terminated the contract of assistant coach Terry Venables, the second time he has been sacked from an England post after he coached the team at Euro 1996.

Barwick, whose own role in the choice of McClaren as coach has come under scrutiny, said he wished McClaren well."He has put real hard work into this job, he has been dedicated to it, but in the end not qualifying for Euro 2008 comes up short," Barwick said.

"I spoke to him a little while ago and Steve probably accepts that qualification for Euro 2008 was a minimum requirement."

England needed a draw against Croatia to seal a place in Euro 2008 but defeat means they will be missing from a major finals for the first time since the 1994 World Cup.A 10-man FA board met from 8:30 a.m. for an emergency meeting to discuss McClaren's future.

The England manager was not present.McClaren had said on Wednesday he would not resign despite a woeful qualifying campaign that included home and away defeats by Croatia, a defeat in Russia and draws with Israel and Macedonia.

Former Middlesbrough boss McClaren was named as Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor in May 2006 after the FA's prime target, Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari turned down the job.McClaren, who had been Eriksson's assistant, took control after the World Cup finals in Germany where England reached the quarter-finals and he began by axing David Beckham from his first squad.

Results were encouraging initially, starting with a 4-0 defeat of European champions Greece in a friendly. The Euro 2008 qualifying campaign began with a 5-0 home win against Andorra and a 1-0 triumph in Macedonia but McClaren's honeymoon period was short-lived. A 0-0 home draw with Macedonia followed by a 2-0 defeat in Croatia drew stinging criticism and McClaren's hold on the job had been fragile ever since.

Israel appeared to save him when they beat Russia on Saturday, meaning England could scramble into the finals with a point against Croatia.However, his decision to leave out Beckham again and hand a debut to Scott Carson in goal at the expense of Paul Robinson backfired as Croatia outclassed England in front of 88,000 fans.

Speculation is now turning to who the FA will choose to lead the qualification for the 2010 World Cup which begins next year. Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was quoted as 7-2 favourite with bookmakers.