So the result we all anticipated was confirmed last night. If England were a Premier League team under Steve McClaren, they would be sitting at the bottom of the log, about five points worse off than Derby - and that in itself is a big ask.

McClaren did not have a a formation, a clue - in fact I am not going to talk about what he got wrong. That would be too emotionally taxing an experience and it is too early in the morning to deal with such things. I am not angry. I processed that the day he was appointed and decided to get the whole disappointment over and done with. The long and the short is that  the England players will not be in Switzerland or Austria come June 2008 unless Rio Ferdinand and his mates are planning one of their infamous escapades that make good reading in the News of the World.

I blame the Football Association, not McClaren. I am confident that anybody worth their salt knew he wasn't good enough for the job. It was like someone who simply knows how to use Microsoft Word applying for a position as a software programmer in the Microsoft Office Suite.  McClaren is a No.2 and that is all he is good for. In his own right he is spineless - and that is understatement.

'McClaren is a No.2 and that is all he is good for. In his own right he is spineless - and that is understatement'


So why did the FA pick him? Was there another Faria Alam-style scandal? I do not see how they could have made that decision and imagined it was the right one.

McClaren simply never believed he was the England manager - but always felt he needed to prove he was. He had had no real success to speak about. Some will pull out Middlesbrough but success with them was like saying just because you manage to make a bad team with no reference in terms of standards into a bad team amongst worse teams you suddenly can coach Barcelona.

McClaren belongs to minnows, teams that have no intention of getting anywhere - the Burundis and Myanmars of this world. In fact, I am sure even Andorra wouldn't dare appoint him. The FA, though, thought otherwise and to save world football, we need to get rid of them.

That said, the fans did get what they wanted on some sadistic level. Unless the FA are smoking something that should have been left in the jungle, we will not have to see ol'  Stevie telling us that he can turn around when it is obvious that it is beyond him. it is like asking Steve Urkel to to come on for Schalk Burger in the 70th minute to turn the match around.