UNITED KINGDOM: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Fans dejected after England dismissal from Euro 2008 as Roy Keane blames egos and bookmakers take bets on Steve McClaren's successor

England fans dejected after national team's dismissal from Euro 2008 as Roy Keane blames some players' egos and bookmakers take bets on McClaren's successor. English international players were billed as a golden generation of footballers who would end 40-plus years of failure, but 90 minutes of uninspired kick-and-run in the Wembley mud confirmed a brutal truth to the England team and their fans: Wednesday night's abject 3-2 home defeat by Croatia not only buried England's hopes of reaching next year's European Championship finals, but showed once and for all that Steve McClaren's men were more also-rans than pacesetters. The loss to competent, rather than inspired opponents led to the sacking of head coach McClaren on Thursday (November 22) and a frenzy of navel-gazing as the nation that gave the game to the world tried to come to terms with the failure and explain it. "You could blame it on the pitch; the cohesion wasn't there; they just didn't play together. But they didn't seem to have the fight in them to actually go ahead and win it, win the game," said soccer fan Rob on Thursday morning. John Pitson commented: "Well, it wouldn't really have bothered me if we had gone through, I wouldn't have cared how badly we played but, yeah, I shall be going on holiday next summer where there's no television." Another fan, Nat Conn, said: "Still in a state of shock really. I think what always happens in this country is we have extremes: we're either very, very over-confident -- or the opposite." One of the most committed and dedicated professionals of recent years, former Manchester United and Ireland star and now Sunderland manager Roy Keane, believes the players are good, but some need to change their attitude. "You look at some of the England players and they are bloody good players, they can handle the ball. But I think certainly you look at some of the England players and the England set-up and to me, from the outside looking in, again just my opinion, I tend to think there are too many egos in there and too many big heads and you know, if you get carried way with any little bit of success then you are in trouble and I look at the England set-up and they don't look a happy bunch I have to say, they don't look a happy bunch and their body language sometimes isn't great. As good as they are players, but good players don't make good teams," said Keane. He also said some players always favoured club over country. "Some of them, as I said, I don't think international football is that important to a lot of these players nowadays and club football has certainly taken over, especially for a lot of top players who are involved in Champions League football. And as I said, egos are definitely a problem I think -- particularly with the English lads," the Sunderland manager said. As for McClaren's likely successor, some say Luiz Felipe Scolari, some Martin O'Neill and some Jose Mourinho. In an apparent bookmaker-sponsored stunt outside the Football Association headquarters in central London on Thursday, likely successors to sacked manager McClaren were given betting odds. O'Neill and Mourinho were favourites, followed by Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Alan Shearer, Fabio Capello, Sam Allardyce, Harry Redknapp, former manager Sven-Goan Eriksson -- and former captain and current player David Beckham. Newcastle United manager Allardyce immediately ruled himself out of the running, saying that his contract needs to be honoured.

ITN Source | November 23, 2007

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