Things are looking bleaker than ever for Steve McClaren.

No matter how many times I think things can’t get any worse for the England manager, it seems they invariably do.

Good results in next week’s matches against Israel and Russia are crucial if they are to have any real chance of qualifying for next summer’s European Championships.

But McClaren’s troubles are mounting with every passing day.

Before this week started the England boss already knew he would be without Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney and Aaron Lennon through injury and Peter Crouch through suspension.

A bad start. And this week things have got worse.

First there were doubts over whether Steven Gerrard would have recovered from his broken toe in time for the games then Keiron Dyer broke his leg in a mid-week match.

Sandwiched between that were fitness doubts over Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and rumours that Joe Cole is fed up with being treated as a scapegoat by McClaren.

But the crowning glory to the most miserable of weeks has to be the news that David Beckham has been ruled out as well with knee ligament damage. That could be the killer blow considering the sort of form he has been in of late.

There are a couple of positives, however. Frank Lampard seems to be back to his best – finally – and Owen Hargreaves and Michael Owen are returning to something like full fitness.

Sadly those positives certainly don’t outweigh the negatives and it could be a real struggle for England to get the results they need.

Any more injuries this weekend and what is now an uncomfortable lack of bodies will officially become a full-blown crisis.

Just what McClaren could have done without as he fights to save his international career and England’s summer.

Manchester United

Am I the only one who thinks Manchester United are a mere shadow of last year’s team?

I appreciate they have injury problems, especially in the striking department, but even so they shouldn’t be struggling to score like they are.

With last year’s team and this summer’s new additions I really thought they should be walking away with matches, not struggling for points.

Maybe it is all part of some Sir Alex master-plan to lull the rest of the big boys into a false sense of security.

If it is, it’s certainly working like a dream.

Neil Warnock

Looks like my old favourite Neil Warnock could be back in management sooner rather than later.

The former Sheffield United boss is hot favourite to take over at Leicester now that they have fired Martin Allen who had only been in charge at the Walkers Stadium for three months.

I am currently reading Warnock’s biography and he states, right at the beginning of the book, that he is looking to get back into management and give the business one last try.

And this could be the perfect job for him. He likes a challenge and this is one where, thanks to chairman Milan Mandaric, he will have more than a few pennies to spend.

There is something about Neil that makes me want to see him succeed. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s his attitude, maybe the fact that he brought relative success to Sheffield United.

Whatever it is, I sincerely hope he gets the Leicester job and equally I hope he manages to get them promoted to the Premier League. Provided it’s as runners up to Sheffield United.

Quote of week

First quote of the week has to go to Ian Holloway, the Plymouth manager who was rushed to hospital last week just before a match. It turned out he had a kidney stone.

“It’s still in my body and I’ll have to pass it at sometime but my passing’s absolutely diabolical. That’s what I told the doctor, ‘What chance have I got of passing anything – did you see me play?’”.

Pure class.

Second quote comes from a most unlikely source – Egyptian striker Mido.

Interviewed just after his move to Middlesbrough, the former Spurs player said: “I’ve come to Middlesbrough for the shopping”, in reference to Roy Keane’s previous comments on WAGs.

Nice to see someone who had effectively been hung out to dry by Spurs had managed to retain his sense of humour. If not his sense of reality…

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