Football Association vice-chairman Sir David Richards claims Steve McClaren will get his backing until England "can no longer qualify" for Euro 2008.

Wednesday's 2-1 defeat in Russia left England needing to rely on results elsewhere to claim a place in the finals in Austria and Switzerland next summer.

Richards told the Daily Telegraph: "Steve has done a bloody good job. It was very difficult for him when he started and he has worked really hard to turn it around."

He added: "Things didn't go right for us in the end on Wednesday night but that's football and I don't think it's right that we should start calling for him to be sacked.

"He has got a job to do against Croatia. After that game we will talk about what happens next and I will support him right up until the point where we can no longer qualify.

"We have got to be realistic, we can't keep hiring and firing people. We want to keep it stable and we want to try and create a winning team."