now that England have dropped to 4th place in their qualifying group after a pretty poor 3 - 0 win against lowly Andorra should the manager offer his resignation ?

here's what today's Sun has to say

Mac cracks but he beats sack


From MARK IRWIN
March 29, 2007

STEVE McCLAREN finally cracked as fans chanted for his head last night.
The England boss stormed out of a post-match press conference after just two questions.
McClaren’s job is safe at least until the next Euro 2008 qualifier in Estonia in June — despite another dismal display.


15,000 travelling supporters chanted ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ and ‘Steve McClaren is a w****r’.
McClaren, whose side stumbled to a 0-0 draw in Israel on Saturday, said: “We came here to win. In difficult conditions on and off the field, we’ve got the job done.
“I’m proud of each and every one of my players for the way they came through. Quite a few have grown up tonight.
“I said at half-time that we have to show guts and character. We had to stand together and Steven Gerrard really stepped forward and won the game for us.
“I got fantastic support from the players, the staff and the squad. They all showed great determination to do the job.
“I’m not concerned about me but it was very, very difficult for the players.
“It puts us in a better position in the group and now we have to beat Estonia. It’s in our hands.
“Nothing concerns me what people say or write about me.
“What matters is inside the squad and there’s a great determination to put things right.
“You can write whatever you want. That’s all I want to say.”
With that, he stood up and walked out of the press conference.
Asked about McClaren, FA chief executive Brian Barwick scurried away from Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium without a word.

What about sacking the overpaid prima-donna players?

Either that, or the English FA have supreme bad luck to continually pick managers unable to distinguish arse and elbow...

A little of column A, a little of column B...
Make the England squad join England as a club and then make that club play in the Premiership. Gets them to work as a team for the whole year and no more whining from Ferguson et al about 'they're nicking my players and making the tired...', etc. The poor diddums.

Have to agree with you there. The players just can't cut in on the international scene, they are more used to being mollycoddled "celebrities" posing for Hello or OK than proper players.

Personally, being Scottish, I would like to see McClaren stay, I think he is the best man for the job. I am not anti English in any way, but every 2 years I hear England fans and people from other countries saying that they are one of the favorites each tournament. This has been proved wrong time and time again when they are knocked out, sometimes by teams which are only average, for example Portugal. The team think to highly of themselves and expect to win every game, although this may be a good mentality, it means the underdogs have less pressure to win and sometimes thats what is the decisive factor in these games.

Scotland, Ireland and N. Ireland for Euro 2008???????

indeed

Last night was the first time I've deliberately missed an England game, and I'm very happy with that decision. McClaren must go, along with whichever idiot (s) appointed him.

By any chance, do you know the Celtic supporters club, Bern. Or do you sit on the other side of the fence. Good to hear that i have 1 person who agrees with me though.

I blame the media...

- Overhyping average to good players into world beaters. Yesterday on Sky, hearing that Gerrard has proven again that he is a world-class players for his display against a glorified pub team is simply typical of that mentality. English players can be very good in small numbers and surrounded by talented foreigners but that's it.

- Deluded expectations: the WC was won on homesoil in favourable conditions, over 40 years ago. That was the blip and failure is the norm. Erikkson took England as far as anyone could, this idea that this is a supremely talented team only waiting for the right manager to take over has been a gigantic millstone around its neck...

- Scapegoating instead of looking at the root causes of the problem. So much easier to blame just one person, be it an England player, a ref, a foreign player whilst avoiding the hard issues.

- Fans pressure. A 0-0 draw in Israel is a pretty decent result actually, France drew twice against them during the qualifiers for WC2006, you're not Brazil 1970...

Isnt this just history repeating itself ? When was the last time we comfortably qualified for a tournament ? Personally i think its a mindset thing. We have to stop thinking that England are a 'great' team. That simply is not true. We have 4 points out of six and still everyone is calling for McLaren's head. I think this is just the hangover from the World Cup. Im not saying that he is the man for the job but a knee jerk reaction at this point will just place even more pressure on his successor.

Its not the result thats the problem it was the performance, and all the rhetoric coming out of the England camp before the game about how the boys would step up their game etc etc. It never happened, they were poor. Thats the problem. The fans are fed up of watching a rubbish football match with no passion.

I also think Fat Frank Lampard's "injury" was just an excuse to drop him from the side, and about time too.
I would kick McClown out for a whole number of reasons mainly to do with him being a rubbish manager.

1. Constantly picking underperforming players on reputation alone (Lampard, Terry, Ashley Cole, Rooney) Some of those need to be dropped and told to buck their ideas up.

2. Failing to solve the Gerrard / Lampard issue. They both have massive ego's and can't play together. Let Gerrard play centre, instead of on the right and stick Fat Frank on the bench..give us some strength in depth.

3. Strange team selection. Why is Philip Neville being played in a friendly at left back. We know what he can do, why not try Shorey or Leyton Baines.
Why is Beckham not in the squad? name 1 other right winger than Lennon at the moment; SWP doesn't count because he doesn't play football anymore.

4. Odd substitutons, Why against Israel was our first substitution a right back?
Why did he take Lennon and Johnson off, who were clearly performing better than Lampard or Rooney.

5. His half time talks, the bit where a manager earns his money don't seem to be working. The team come out and play the same rubbish in the second half everytime.

6. "Its like watching Middlesborough but with an England kit on." quote on the BBC sports website.

I don't think the booing and name calling was in out of order last night though to be honest. McClaren is supposed to be a pretty good coach by all accounts and I think he is doing his best, however he isn't upto the job, and the fans jumping all over the team inside of 10mins doesn't help anyone.

why the hell does every England manger seem to avoid Gareth Barry like the plague??

I'm no Aston villa fan but I reckon he must be one of the best left footed players in the country.

Went to catch the second half of the Irish game in the Oliver Twist last night, only to find it wasn't on there I had to hotfoot and hot-tram it over to Paddy O'Reilly's. I was so engrossed in the Irish game that I didn't realise until a cheer went up for gerrard's goal from those watching the small screen that it was 0-0 for an hour in last night's match

It just struck me that England would do better when playing teams like Andorra and probably even Israel, to play players exclusively outside the Premiership.

Northern Ireland are proving what's possible when there's no star names but players prepared to play with passion and the willingness to run their heart out for their teammates and their country.

Unlucky, am a Teddy Bear, but not too frantic about it (no bowler hat & other paraphenalia) .. rugby is more my thing.

P

Shurely this is what the paparazzi junkies should be doing no ?