On Wednesday night, stage was set for England to qualify for Euro 2008. They were playing at Wembley. They only needed a draw in their last qualification game. They were playing against Croatia, who are not exactly world world-beaters, are they? It looked so easy. Yet, England failed.

It was a complete nightmare for England fans. The players looked nervy from the start, giving a performance that was completely spineless. Croatia scored two goals inside the first 15 minutes and from then onwards England faced an uphill struggle. Although first Lampard (from a dubious penalty) and then Crouch (from a Beckham cross) scored in the second half to give England hope, Croatia substitute Petric scored 13 minutes from time to condemn England to defeat and bury their Euro 2008 hopes once and for all. At the end of the day, it was evident that England had been outplayed and outclassed by a team far better than them. It was one of the worst England performance I have ever witnessed.

News of Steve McClaren's sacking arrived half an hour after the match, the confirmation of which duly arrived next morning. He has been criticised everywhere (and rightly so) so I will not discuss his clueless management anymore. It would be sufficient to say that he has prooved to be worse than Eriksson, taking the England team backwards.

Now England must appoint a competent manager. A manager who has international pedigree, who has got experience of winning titles, who is not afraid of making big decisions. Obviously, the name of Jose Mourinho comes into the mind and he is the fans' favourite to take the England job. But it is up to the FA to select the right man.

And speaking of the FA, they must also take responsibility of England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008. They appointed McClaren, when everyone could see he was not the right man for the job.

Moreover, England players should take the blame too. They have constantly under-performed (or are they just over-rated) and have let their nation and fans down badly. The time for England's so-called Golden-Generation is certainly over.

Therefore, chance should now be given to the youngsters. Players such as Agbonlahor, Young, Bentley and Walcott have done very well at club and U-21 level and I think they are ready to step up to the first team. Moreover, selection should be based on current form and not on past performances and popularity. The FA should also find out whether a complete overhaul of England's football system is needed. If the answer is in affirmative, they should not hesitate to take drastic actions to do so. Lastly, I would like to say that if the FA does not carry out these steps, England could soon find itself in international wilderness.

(Any comments are welcome.)


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