First setbacks for McClaren on the international scene

The honeymoon is over for England's latest coach Steve McClaren, who has now gone down the same road as Sven-Goran Eriksson and his predecessors. Overall, McClaren has fared worse than the Swede as England have dropped five points from the first four European Championship qualifiers.

England forwards failed to score in last their two outings.

Since taking over as England manager in August, McClaren has made use of 25 players:

Goalkeepers: Robinson (Tottenham), Kirkland (Wigan).

Defenders: G. Neville, (Manchester United), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), A. Cole, (Chelsea), P. Neville (Everton), Brown (Manchester United), King (Tottenham), Carragher (Liverpool), Bridge (Chelsea).

Midfielders: Gerrard (Liverpool), Lampard (Chelsea), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Downing (Middlesbrough), Lennon (Tottenham), Richardson (Manchester United), Carrick (Manchester United), Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Parker (Newcastle).

Forwards: D. Bent, (Charlton), Defoe (Tottenham), Crouch (Liverpool), Johnson (Everton), Rooney (Manchester United).

The only debutant was Kirkland while Terry was given the captain's role after David Beckham stood down as skipper following England's elimination from the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

The scorers: 5 - Crouch; 2 - Defoe; 1 - Terry, Lampard, Gerrard.

Others items of interest for October:

• Championship side Norwich sack boss Nigel Worthington.

• For the first time in a decade the Scottish Premier League teams register a collective operating profit, even if it is a modest one of £2.8m.

• After becoming a free agent following his release from Birmingham, English striker Chris Sutton signs for Aston Villa.

• Arsenal's vice-chairman David Dein is elected new chairman of the G14 of European clubs that include Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.

• In Coventry, the England Under-21 side build a slender 1-0 (Baines) lead over Germany in the play-offs first leg of the European Championship.

• England can only manage a 0-0 draw against Macedonia at Old Trafford.

Other European Championship qualifiers: Scotland-France 1-0, Cyprus-Ireland 5-2, Wales-Slovakia 1-5, Denmark-Northern Ireland 0-0.

Against Slovakia, Wales suffer their worst home defeat in 98 years.

• England reach the Under-21 European Championship finals for next year, beating Germany 2-0 (Walcott 2), 3-0 on aggregate.

• After the home draw to Macedonia, Steve McClaren's England go down 0-2 in Croatia.

Other European Championship qualifying results: Ukraine-Scotland 2-0, Ireland-Czech Republic 1-1, Wales-Cyprus 3-1, Northern Ireland-Latvia 1-0.

• Critics lambast McClaren after the defeat in Croatia, calling for the return of David Beckham.

• Reading's boss Steve Coppell is named Manager of the Month and Andy Johnson, of Everton, takes the player's award.

• Norwich appoint Peter Grant as their new manager.

• Manager Tony Mowbray leave Hibernian to take over at WBA.

• Celtic beat Benfica 3-0 at their own den in a group match of the Champions League.

Other results: Man. United-FC Copenhagen 3-0, CSKA Moscow-Arsenal 1-0, Chelsea-Barcelona 1-0, Bordeaux-Liverpool 0-1.

• The four British teams in the UEFA Cup register victories in group games: Livorno-Rangers 2-3, Besiktas-Tottenham 0-2, W. Krakow-Blackburn 1-2, Newcastle-Fenerbahce 1-0.

• League Cup third round shocks: Port Vale-Norwich 3-2 on penalties, Chesterfield-West Ham 2-1, Sheffield United-Birmingham 2-4.

• Dennis Wise is the new manager of Leeds.

• Jim Leishman steps down as manager of Dunfermline.

• The first Premiership hat-trick of the season is scored by Manchester United's Wayne Rooney in the 4-0 away win against Bolton.

• Craig Levein takes over at Dundee United following the resignation of Craig Brewster. John Collins is named new boss at Hibernian.

• Liverpool ease into the last 16 of the Champions League after a 3-0 win over Bordeaux at Anfield. Chelsea are almost there as well following a 2-2 draw at Barcelona.