McClaren sacked

Day 2, 00:00 • Published in Romania Romania • by anarhie

Coach Steve McClaren has been sacked after the defeat by Croatia knocked England out of Euro 2008|||Assistant manager Terry Venables has also had his contract terminated by the Football Association.

The FA will now conduct a "root and branch" review of the England team set-up, to be led by chief executive Brian Barwick and which will begin with immediate effect.

FA chairman Geoff Thompson told a packed news conference: "At a meeting of the board this morning, the FA board unanimously decided to terminate the contract of England head coach Steve McClaren with immediate effect.

"The board have also decided to terminate the contract of the assistant head coach Terry Venables.

"The board have agreed that there will be a full investigation of the full England senior set up. This will begin immediately.

"Brian Barwick, the FA chief executive, will head this up and will report to me. He will also be given the responsibility of finding the new head coach.

"There is no definitive timeframe for the recruitment of the head coach. We will do everything we can to get the right man."

Calls for manager McClaren's head started seconds after England's 3-2 loss at Wembley ended their hopes of reaching next year's tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

The defeat confirmed their absence from a major tournament for the first time since the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

The beleaguered McClaren accepted full responsibility for England's failure to reach the finals but refused to resign.

However that proved to be academic after the Football Association announced the early morning board meeting leading to McClaren's departure after just 18 games in charge, the shortest tenure of any coach in the post.

McClaren, who took over from Sven-Goran Eriksson as England coach after the 2006 World Cup, had two years left of his four-year contract.

Barwick has confirmed that nationality will not be an issue when selecting the new England coach and former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is the runaway favourite to be the next England manager in our online poll.

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill and Portugal boss Luis Felipe Scolari are also among the front-runners to take over from McClaren while former Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello has said he would be interested in the position.