Beckham axed by England

"I spoke with David last Monday and notified him of my decision. I told him I was looking to the future and said I was loking to change things, go in a different direction and he was not included," said McClaren, who used his Friday afternoon press conference to formally present his assistant manager Terry Venables.

The most iconic England player of the last decade yesterday handed over the captaincy to defender John Terry and was then left out of the party to face Greece next Wednesday despite recovering from anke and knee injuries picked up at the World Cup.

He played for Real Madrid in a friendly against DC United on Tuesday and there is no question over his fitness, yet the right-sided player has been omitted from a squad that includes thre strikers left out of the World Cup - Jermain Defoe, Darren Bent and Dean Ashton.

Manchester United's young goalkeeper Ben Foster was included along with club-mate Kieran Richardson and uncapped Tottenham Hotspur defender Michael Dawson. There is no place for David James or Sol Campbell, while Wayne Rooney has been left out as he will be suspended from England's next two competitive internationals.

Beckham failed to impress in Germany - despite scoring a match-winning free-kick against Ecuador in the second round - and Eriksson was widely criticised for his unbending loyalty towards his captain seemingly irrespective of form.

McClaren spent several years as Eriksson's assistant, and if he wants to show he is his own man there can be no more emphatic statement than discarding Beckham. Tottenham Hotspur's Aaron Lennon produced some exceptional cameos in Germany, and may be fast-tracked into a starting position by the man who nurtured young talents such as Stewart Downing and Lee Cattermole at Middlesbrough.

Beckham made his debut under Glenn Hoddle in September 1996, when England defeated Moldova 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier. He quickly became a star of the England team before a red card against Argentina at France 1998 that saw him become a hate figure for England fans.

He found his way back into favour through consistently excellent performances and capped off his rehabilitation with an injury-time free-kick against Greece that saw England through to the 2002 World Cup.

After playing that tournament while not fully fit, he entered a steady decline for his country. However, the Swedish manager Eriksson never heeded calls to replace Beckham with either Shaun Wright-Phillips or, latterly, Lennon.