McClaren gets the chop

Steve McClaren has been sacked by the FA from the position of England manager today following their failure to qualify for the European Championship finals next year.

At a news conference, the FA said they had made a unanimous decision to terminate the contract of McClaren and his assistant Terry Venables at a meeting this morning.

FA's chief executive Brian Barwick made a personal apology to England fans for the team's failure to qualify for Euro 2008, while the chairman Geoff Thompson said it was embarrassing.

New favorite with the bookmakers is former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, Barwick added that the nationality of England's next coach will not be an issue. McClaren's time in office - at just 18 games the shortest tenure of any coach in the post - came to a humiliating end last night with a 3-2 defeat to Croatia at Wembley which ended England's hopes of reaching next summer's tournament.

FA chairman Geoff Thompson said: 'At a meeting of the FA board this morning the FA board unanimously decided to terminate the contract of England head coach Steve McClaren with immediate effect.