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McClaren: Facing the axe

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The Football Association have called an emergency board meeting for Thursday morning to discuss the future of under-fire England manager Steve McClaren.

England's hopes of reaching the finals of Euro 2008 ended on Wednesday night when they slumped to a miserable 3-2 defeat to Croatia at Wembley.

McClaren's side went into the game knowing that one point would be enough to secure a place in next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

However, the defeat ensured England have failed to reach the finals of a major international tournament for the first time since the 1994 World Cup.

Unimpressive

McClaren, though, refused to resign in the immediate aftermath of the Wembley loss which concludes a highly unimpressive qualifying campaign.

But, while McClaren declined to discuss his future, the 12-man FA executive will sit in judgement at 8.30am tomorrow and their verdict is not likely to be positive.

It had been reported at the weekend, before England were handed an unexpected reprieve by Israel's 2-1 victory over Russia, that a seven-three vote had already been taken to remove McClaren from his post.

This has been denied by the FA, although it is difficult to see how a majority of the committee can come down in McClaren's favour, especially as chief executive Brian Barwick and chairman Geoff Thompson do not have a vote.

The members of the committee, including Manchester United chief executive David Gill, Bolton chairman Phil Gartside and Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney will surely find it impossible to back McClaren, whose side were booed off the field at the final whistle.