McClaren may survive – only because there are few alternatives

WHEN Steve McClaren selected his England squad yesterday, he must have been one of the few Englishmen on the planet who didn’t think it should be his last chance to perform that function. The choir of sceptics was pretty substantial at the time of his appointment, and subsequent events have seen it swell into a full-throated chorus of disdain.

There was an air of futility about McClaren even naming a squad given that England’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008, and with them the international careers of several of the players, rely on the capricious combination of luck and Israel’s approac...