Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson insists he feels no sense of satisfaction at Steve McClaren's failure to lead the side to Euro 2008.Eriksson's time in charge of the England side has largely been written off as one of failure even though he guided them to three quarter-finals and suffered only one defeat in qualifying, to Northern Ireland in October 2005.

Now impressing at Manchester City, Eriksson has always felt his efforts with England have been viewed unkindly and certainly there are not many who feel he would not have done a better job in charge than his former assistant McClaren, whose catastrophic 18-match stint was brought to a swift conclusion by the FA on Thursday morning.

However, Eriksson is not chuckling at McClaren's failure.

He has already left a message of sympathy with the man he worked with so closely for five years and he feels nothing but sorrow for the players and the fans.

"I don't feel any sense of satisfaction," he said.

"I honestly feel sorry about Steve and the players. I left a message with Steve but I don't think he wants to answer the phone too much, which is understandable."

There has been some suggestion Eriksson could yet be invited back by the FA, talk which brought a scoffing response from the Swede, who neither expects a call, nor is prepared to offer any public opinion about who should eventually be appointed in McClaren's place.

"There is no need to rule myself out," he laughed. "The FA have not asked me - and they will not. I am happy where I am.

"I have absolutely nothing to say about the successor.

"There is a lot of speculation and a lot of opinions. But I have no idea who the next manager will be and I have no opinion about it. I don't know whether they will be English or a foreigner. It is not my business."

Eriksson was rather more forthcoming in his belief that there are enough talented English players in the Premier League to make a successful national side.

He made a point of emphasising it was not an issue he had ever raised during his time in charge and claimed the situation in England is not significantly better or worse than it is in other major European countries.

"The Premier League does have enough good English players in it to make a successful team," he said.

"When you talk about foreigners, it is the same in Italy and Spain. .

"Look at Inter and AC Milan, there are not too many Italians in those teams. I do not think it is a problem.

"I don't think it is a problem and I never said it was even when I had the England job.

"The good players like Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards will always come through."

Having produced Richards, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton in recent years, it could be argued City are doing more than most to aid the development of English talent.

Teenage midfielder Michael Johnson is another potential international of the future, although Eriksson is clearly now more bothered about producing a winning team for City than problems affecting the England team.

He has spoken to Richards, part of the leaky defence breached three times by Croatia on Wednesday, in an effort to raise the youngster's spirits.

However, while for Richards the scars may heal quickly, Eriksson feels the real people who will miss out are the fans across Europe who would have liked to see England make it.

"If you talk about Germany, Italy, Spain, France and England, they should be there," observed Eriksson.

"I am sorry for the fans but I think UEFA feels sorry too. They always want England in the big tournaments.

"But that happens sometimes. That is life.

"I am not the England manager anymore. I

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