England in mourning: Beckham

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Steve McClaren was sacked as England manager on Thursday following the team's humiliating exit from the qualifiers.

Interviewed on the Parkinson TV show on Thursday, Beckham said of Wednesday night's game: "It wasn't pretty. It was frustrating, disappointing. The nation is in mourning and rightly so with the players we have got, the team we have got, the support we have got and always will have."

And he added: "Thousands of fans deserve to be celebrating, to have flags on their cars and in their windows supporting our team."

FA chief executive Brian Barwick apologised to fans as he launched a "root and branch" review of the national side and started the search for McClaren's replacement.

McClaren was fired, along with his number two Terry Venables, by unanimous vote when he refused to walk away from the job after England lost 3-2 to Croatia at Wembley. The former Middlesbrough manager, whose 18-game tenure is the shortest of any England coach, had three years remaining on his contract.

Bookmakers immediately made former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho favourite to take over, with Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill close behind - but reports suggested both had ruled themselves out.

Fans reacted angrily to reports McClaren could be in line for a £2.5 million pay-off, with the Football Supporters' Federation urging the FA to rethink the kind of contracts it offered England managers. FSF chairman Malcolm Clarke said the England manager should be on a performance-related contract, and qualification for major tournaments should be a minimum requirement.

Simon Chadwick, professor of sport business strategy and marketing at Coventry Business School, estimated the FA stood to lose £15 million - although Mr Barwick said the financial loss to the FA of not qualifying was less than £5 million.

Prof Chadwick put the potential loss to the British economy as high as £2 billion.