ENGLISH football is facing the ultimate humiliation. Days after the national team were booed off the pitch at Wembley for failing to qualify for Euro 2008, the government has decided the Football Association needs advice on picking a new coach.

Ministers are angry about the severance payment handed to Steve McClaren, who got a £2.5m payoff after just 18 months as head coach. Yesterday Terry Venables, his assistant, dismissed reports that he will receive up to £1m, saying the true figure is closer to £100,000.

“It’s right for people to be concerned about the size of the payoffs,” said Gerry Sutcliffe, the sports minister. “That’s money that could go back into the game.

“You can’t attack McClaren or Venables for getting the money because that was the nature of their contracts. But you can say the FA shouldn’t be putting out contracts for that length of time without thinking about the possibilities. ”

Sutcliffe will raise his concerns with Brian Barwick, the FA’s chief executive, on Wednesday. He added: “The FA has to take a long, hard look at itself.”

The minister’s intervention is likely to irritate the FA as it struggles to line up a coach capable of turning round the national team.

This weekend, one potential home-grown candidate, Martin O’Neill, manager of Aston Villa, appeared to rule himself out of contention.

Managers of the stature of Fabio Capello, the former Real Madrid coach who has won seven league titles in Italy and Spain, have the power to dictate their own contractual terms.

One FA insider described Sutcliffe’s intervention as “ludicrous”. “It will be impossible to get a decent manager without a long-term contract in place,” he said. Ministers want a “fundamental overhaul” of the sport’s governing body, including the introduction of an independent chairman and non-executive board directors.

Critics believe the FA should have tightened its contracts after it was forced to pay Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former England coach, about £4.5m when the Swede quit last year.

McClaren, 46, who was appointed on a four-year contract following Eriksson’s departure, was sacked last week after England lost 3-2 to Croatia.

Other contenders to succeed McClaren include Jürgen Klinsmann, who coached Germany at last year’s World Cup, and possibly Jose Mourinho, who recently quit Chelsea.

The payoff for McClaren — who is the least successful football manager in the country’s 135-year international history — will help him expand his property portfolio in Barbados.

McClaren owns a £1m three-bedroom villa at the exclusive Royal Westmoreland golf resort, which is mainly rented out. He is also building a £1.9m home with a private swimming pool nearby.

The compensation awarded to Venables, who was fired on the same day as McClaren, is the latest in a string of severance payments he has received, leading some to dub him “Mr Payoff”.

Venables, who led England to the semi-finals of Euro 96, reportedly pocketed six-figure sums after his departures from club sides such as Leeds United and Portsmouth.

Although the England team have been giving their match fees to charity since the start of the year, senior players are in line to receive up to £150,000 each from FA sponsors.

“Most football supporters will be mystified and depressed by seeing these huge payments for what is essentially failure,” said Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation.

“If you look at Eriksson, McClaren and Venables, you’ve got more than £7m that is no longer available for developing the grass roots of football.”

Yesterday Scott Carson, whose competitive England debut was marred by a goalkeeping howler that gave Croatia an early lead, took to the pitch again as Aston Villa, his club, played Middlesbrough.

The 22-year-old has been the butt of jokes on the internet since his costly mistake, with one disgruntled fan even threatening to burn down his house.

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