England axe McClaren

The Football Association have confirmed the departure of England coach Steve McClaren.
The FA board convened on Thursday morning after calling an emergency meeting and they wasted little time in confirming the termination of McClaren's contract.

McClaren's tenure was brought to an end less than 24 hours after England were knocked out of Euro 2008 at the qualifying stage.

England, who only needed a draw against Croatia to seal their place at the finals in Austria & Switzerland, lost 3-2 at Wembley on Wednesday.

Short reign

McClaren was contracted up to the World Cup in 2010 - but he will not be seeing out the remaining 33 months of his contract after England's first failure to qualify for the finals of a major tournament since 1994.

His reign is the shortest in the history of the English national team.
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No real suprises then
(Macca to B'ham anyone?)

Barwick 'disappointed' by exit
FA chief executive tells of anguish following England failure.

Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick has spoken of his utter disappointment following England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

Steve McClaren's men were outplayed by Croatia on Wednesday evening as they suffered a 3-2 defeat to end their hopes of a place in next summer's finals.

Following the defeat the FA confirmed their plans to call an emergency board meeting to discuss the future of McClaren at 8.30am Thursday.

Devastation

Barwick explained that he and the FA have 'lots to think about', while expressing his complete devastation at seeing England crash at Wembley.

"There is lots to think about and talk about tomorrow, thank you very much indeed," he said on Sky Sports News.

When quizzed on whether he had a message for England fans, he said: "I am very disappointed for them and very disappointed that we have haven't been able to get through to the finals - it is not what we set out to do."

Regarding the performance, Barwick added: "[I'm] obviously very disappointed."

This is the only thing less surprising than last night's performance.



Good fuckin' riddance...

He's still a good coach, just a very poor manager.

Spankeltoe wrote:He's still a good coach, just a very poor manager.

i'd agree with that, he did a good job at OT

NEWS! FA SHUT STABLE DOOR. HAS ANYONE SEEN OUR HORSE?