England now faced a European qualifier in Israel against a team, in Tel Aviv, who ordinarily would seem to pose no great problem. But Israel of late had dramatically improved, Steve McClaren’s England were in turmoil, and there could be no certainty of success. From being something of a formality – the away games against the more formidable Russia and Croatia still lay ahead – the match had now become crucial to the success of the McClaren regime. Emitting gung-ho platitudes, McClaren ignored the fact that if England were in a state of potential crisis, then he himself was largely to blame.

Manifestly out of his depth, the very embodiment of the Peter Principle, whereby people are constantly promoted one step above their capacities, McClaren notably failed to confront the dualism between Frank Lampard – who had a wretched World Cup but improved as the new season went on – and Steven Gerrard, his obvious superior, in central midfield.

He picked another cack-handed team, with not a left footer in sight, fatuously ignoring one such in Gareth Barry, in splendid form for the 'unfashionable' Aston Villa; though Ashley Cole was suspended, the manager preferred the right-footed centre back, Jamie Carragher. Meanwhile the right-footed Aaron Lennon, who in fact had a vibrant first half, was used on the left flank, ensuring that most of his crosses curled in towards the defence. This compromise was largely determined by the fact that again McClaren stuck Gerrard on the right flank rather than dynamically in the centre, where Lampard had another poor game. The system paradoxically ensures that you get the best out of neither player.

Result: failure to score again in a drab goalless draw, though McClaren could scarcely be blamed for the dismal form of his supposedly best player, Wayne Rooney, who looked temperamentally unable to cope with the role assigned to him in McClaren’s myopic game plan.

Panglossian as ever, McClaren told us how well England had played in Tel Aviv. Against minuscule, spiteful Andorra in Barcelona, what seemed to be a diplomatic injury to Lampard’s wrist at least enabled him to deploy Gerrard successfully in central midfield, whence he scored two of England’s three goals. But the first-half display, jeered by the contemptuous England fans, was abysmal, and McClaren himself, abused throughout, flounced out of the press conference in less than a couple of minutes. On the day of the match, it transpired that the selection committee had wanted to give him only a two-year contract, but that the birdbrains of the FA board had voted for four.

If McClaren were the reductio ad absurdum of England managers, a worse choice even than Graham Taylor, Alf Ramsey was the finest by a nautical mile. Yet even his once-triumphant career ended in cruel anticlimax, as did his own life. In retrospect, it seems astounding that Walter Winterbottom, his predecessor, should have survived for 16 years, despite the two humiliations by Hungary. Defeat by the USA in the 1950 World Cup could be regarded as a freak. But Winterbottom owed his longevity to the formidable patronage of Stanley Rous, and his complete dominance of the Football Association.

Among other incumbents, Bobby Robson so nearly got his England team to the 1990 World Cup finals, but emphatically rode his luck. Don Revie was a greedy disaster, Ron Greenwood called to the colours well after he had reached his meridian. Glenn Hoddle talked himself out of the role. Terry Venables juggled his job with his prolix business life, but at least attained a European semi-final.

Have England reached the nadir with McClaren? Or would it not be fairer to demand who was responsible for putting him there? The buck surely stops with Brian Barwick, the FA's chief executive.

A black, bleak immediate future seems to loom.

© Brian Glanville 2007 Extracted from England Managers, the Toughest Job in Football, by Brian Glanville, published by Headline at £18.99. It is available for £17.09 including postage from The Times BooksFirst on 0870 165 8585 or buy the book here.

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