SO we have finally been put out of our misery and England are not going to the European Championships next summer.

What an absolute disgrace that we could not qualify from, let alone finish top, a group consisting of Russia, Croatia, Israel, Macedonia, Estonia and Andorra.

Last night's debacle apart, it was completely embarrassing that on Saturday night our Euro 2008 qualification hopes relied on us, as a nation, cheering on Israel against Russia. What a joke!

How an England manager could fail to qualify from such a weak group is beyond me.

Despite being drawn in such a fortuitous group, we lost to Russia, hardly a football super power, we lost twice to Croatia and drew 0-0 with both Israel and minnows Macedonia.

In my eyes that is not acceptable, especially when you have a batch of players consisting of the likes John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, and Wayne Rooney at your disposal.

It is an absolute disgrace, as was the appointment of Steve McClaren as England manager in the first place.

Even if we had qualified last night McClaren should still have been sacked, although I doubt the Football Association would have had the balls to do so.

McClaren has to go. I doubt any of the Premiership's top teams would even consider having McClaren as their manager, so why did the FA decide he was the best man for the biggest job in the country?

I can offer no sympathy for McClaren apart from to say that he was out of his depth.

No-one in their right mind would turn down the chance to manage England but he simply was not good enough.

But McClaren is not the only head that should roll though. The big cheeses at the FA must consider their futures also.

Chief executive Brian Barwick, chairman Geoff Thomas and the rest of the FA board must take full responsibility, after all McClaren was their appointment.

They are picking up obscene pay cheques and they, like McClaren and our over-paid star players, have failed us.

McClaren's appointment was a cheap gamble which backfired, so now is the time for drastic action.

If something good is to come from this massive disappointment I believe the FA chiefs must walk. It's time for change, a complete overhaul of FA to bring in some fresh blood, some football people, and get our national side back on track.

If not, this kind of mediocrity and disappointment will become a consistent theme in the future.

I also hope that next summer our so-called football stars are hurting as much as the nation is now. I doubt it though, instead they'll be basking in the sun on a luxurious holiday somewhere, probably glad of the extra time off!

So what next? For me it's simple.

The England job requires a manager who can handle the star players and get the best out of them.

I'm sick of hearing England's players saying they like the gaffer!

They shouldn't like him, they should respect him and be scared stiff to let him down.

Do any of the Manchester United players like Alex Ferguson? No they don't but they respect him and he's not scared to make big decisions.

It was the same with Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and it's the same with Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez at their clubs. They all keep their big players on their toes and stop them from getting complacent.

That is what we need now, a big character, a motivator and someone who can make the big decisions that matter.

There's one man out there who is available and whatever he costs we should get him now... Jose Mourinho are you listening?

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