A clown. A fool. An incompetent. A joke. These were some of the kinder labels applied to the former England football manager, Steve McClaren, after his team failed to qualify for the final stages of the 2008 European football championships.

But with 13 minutes of the final qualifying match against Croatia remaining, England were drawing 2-2 and still heading for next summer’s tournament. The English Football Association was getting ready to choose the hotel in Switzerland or Austria where it would base the squad for the duration of the competition.