McClaren wants England united

Quite apart from the pundits who have condemned him at virtually every turn since his appointment as successor to Sven-Goran Eriksson, McClaren knows England's fans have been less than supportive on occasions too.

But the England boss said: "It is absolutely key to get everybody behind this team, we need all other agendas put away and left until after the game."

He added: "We have to ensure the build-up is positive. Where do we want to be next summer? In Austria and Switzerland. We can all help in that.

"We have already seen, against Israel and Russia at Wembley, what can happen when the people are behind the players. We need more of that on Wednesday."

Frank Lampard and David Bentley have been the target of individual abuse recently, while McClaren himself was subjected to some of the worst attacks ever suffered by an England manager as his side laboured to victory over the part-timers of Andorra in March.

However, he is now demanding personal issues are set aside for the benefit of his side in an effort to make sure England make the most of the lifeline tossed to them this weekend by Israel and gain the point required to sweep them into next summer's European Championship finals.

McClaren dismisses the notion his side are fortunate to find themselves in such a healthy position after collecting only one point from their three tough away games.

"I have believed from the beginning of the tournament that we would need a result from the Croatia game to go through," he said.

"But there is absolutely no way we can give this chance away. This is it. This is the last game. There are no excuses. We have got ourselves into this position. We are in control. There are no excuses now. We have to get the job done."