FA take safety-first option

SO, after three months of short-listing, interviewing and bewildering farce, the FA at last have their man.

Steve McClaren is the England football manager.

Not first choice, nor second, nor even third. But quite possibly fourth in the mind of FA chief executive Brian Barwick, behind Arsene Wenger, Martin O’Neill and of course Luiz Felipe Scolari, who turned down the offer of football’s most high-profile job last Friday.