Sacked Steve McClaren walked away from his cherished England job today still insisting the players who failed him could eventually bring glory to the nation.

Within 12 hours of last night's calamitous Euro 2008 exit, McClaren took the call he dreaded from FA chief executive Brian Barwick, confirming his contract had been terminated and his services were no longer required.

With just 18 games under his belt, McClaren instantly became the shortest-serving England manager of all time and now finds himself pitched into the ranks of the unemployed, battling to restore his tarnished reputation - even if an estimated £2.5million pay-off should cushion some of the blow to his pride.

There was no Kevin Keegan-style admission the job was too big for him, nor a bold claim he should have been given more time. Just a weary acceptance that in a results business, his have not been good enough and therefore the FA's move, voted for unanimously by the 12-man board, was understandable.

Yet, while McClaren claimed he was no longer capable of being shocked by anything that happens in football, he will still take some time to come to terms with not just how, but the manner in which his team disintegrated. A team he still feels has the capacity to compete with the very best.

"Ultimately, I am a fan and I want England to do well," he said.

"The fact is we have not had the success to reward the expectation that has been there.

"I think it will come and I genuinely believe that this group of players and the ones coming through will do it."

On the evidence of the past 15 months, McClaren's comments have no basis in fact.

For, although there can be no place to go for a coach who claimed his side had improved beyond all recognition after a rocky start, only to blunder so horrifically at the final fence, the players should shoulder their share of the blame too.

Hyped up beyond all recognition, to the point where some probably believe they deserve their vast salaries, it is time to recognise it is not just the coach who has failed.

Without Wayne Rooney and John Terry, there was no snarl and fight against Croatia last night. Without Michael Owen there was no goal threat, other than a lame punt into the area aimed in the general direction of Peter Crouch.

And without Rio Ferdinand and, dare it be said, Jamie Carragher, there was no organisation in a defence in which each individual component crumbled in the face of a superior force.

"I have supported the players all the way along and I won't criticise them now," said McClaren. "They are going to get enough of that.

"But the first thing you have to do to win football matches is defend. We are normally very strong at that but last night we made mistakes."

Those mistakes, coupled with last month's defeat in Russia and the home draw against Macedonia a year earlier, effectively cost McClaren is job.

He is prepared, if requested, to pass on any information he feels would be relevant to the FA as they begin their "root and branch examination" of the England senior team. But other than that, he has no plans other than a short break and a desire to get back into work.

"I am not one to lie on a beach," he said.

"I believe I am a better manager than I was 18 months ago. I know will recover and I know I will bounce back."

History is unlikely to judge him kindly, with his axing and subsequent reinstatement of David Beckham the most notable aspect of his brief reign.

Amazingly though, despite all the criticism heaped on his shoulders from media and supporters alike, McClaren does not regret taking the job.

Neither does he feel anyone should be put off succeeding him, claiming it is not the impossibility it appears from the outside.

"My time has gone," he said.

"It has been a huge challenge but it is also an honour and I would not regard it as a poisoned chalice at all.

"I believed I was up to the job when I took it and I still believe it now.

"But obviously, you are judged by results. I said right at the start I would live and die by results and results haven't gone my way. In that sense we have failed.

"I take full responsibility for that and I have paid the price."