McClaren: 'Saddest day of my career'

England boss Steve McClaren has described his sacking by the Football Association as "one of the saddest days of my career".The defeat to Croatia at Wembley last night means the England squad misses out on qualification for next summer's Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.Earlier, ten of the 12 FA board members were eligible to vote and decided unanimously to terminate McClaren's contract two years early, along with that of his assistant Terry Venables.The search now begins for McClaren's successor - with ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho one of the favourites - but the former Middlesbrough boss was saddened that his time in charge had come to an end.He said: "First of all can I say this is one of the saddest days of my career. Eighteen months ago was the proudest day of my career and I was honoured to be the England head coach and for 18 months I've enjoyed every minute."It is a sad day to have been relieved of my duties but I understand the decision of the FA."Chairman Geoff Thompson said after the FA meeting: "The FA board unanimously decided to terminate the contract of the England head coach Steve McClaren with immediate effect."Like every England fan, we are all bitterly disappointed that we have failed to qualify for Euro 2008. I know that Steve feels that disappointment more than anyone."And FA chief executive Brian Barwick said: "I would like to apologise to the fans personally."I care about this passionately. I'm in this job because I care about football and football fans and football teams."I understand that we have let them down and I apologise for that."Euro 2008 is the first major tournament England have failed to qualify for since the 1994 World Cup.McClaren was promoted to head coach when Sven-Goran Eriksson stood down after the 2006 World Cup.McClaren was in charge for 18 games, winning nine times but losing five, including his last two qualifiers against Russia and Croatia, where a single point would have been good enough to send England through.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | November 22, 2007

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