LONDON (AFP) - David Beckham believes a foreign manager is likely to replace Steve McClaren as England coach.

McClaren was sacked on Thursday after England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 and the speculation over his replacement is already gathering momentum.

The English Football Association insist they will take their time finding a new man, but Beckham expects them to look abroad because of the lack of quality English bosses.

Jose Mourinho has been installed as the bookmakers' favourite and the Portuguese, who is out of work after leaving Chelsea, would be a popular choice.

Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, Russia manager Guus Hiddink and former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann have also been linked with the post.

Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill, a former Northern Ireland international, is another contender, while the only English candidates appear to be Alan Shearer and Stuart Pearce.

Beckham, who was captain under Sven Goran Eriksson - England's previous foreign coach, said: "Obviously Steve is not the England manager anymore and everyone has to come to terms with that.

"There are not many English managers out there that haven't got jobs already. There are also a lot of talented foreign managers."

Beckham and his team-mates face a backlash from the public after their woeful campaign, but the LA Galaxy star claimed England's Euro flops do care about playing for their country.

Stars like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have rarely reproduced their impressive club form for England and Sunderland manager Roy Keane claims the national squad is full of "big-heads" who are more concerned about their own wealth and reputations than working together for the good of the team.

But England midfielder Beckham is adamant there should be no questioning the players' commitment.

"I've captained many of those players and I know how much it hurts them," he said.

"I know how much it hurts them to lose a tackle, let alone lose a game and be knocked out so there will be a lot of players hurting.

"Without a doubt there will be a backlash. It is about how we deal with it.

"If you are going to play and perform at this level, then you've got to take the good with the bad.

"When things go bad, the amount of money players get always gets thrown out there, of course it does.

"When people are seeing the amount of money in football, and the amount players earn, people want results and we've not got the results and not qualified."

Beckham conceded that English football has serious issues to address if the national team is to become a major contender on the world stage.

But he still believes the players are good enough to bounce back as long as they do not become targets for the press and fans.

"There must be something wrong but we are a nation that has got some of the best players in the world and we should be qualifying," he said. "There are no excuses, we should be qualifying for a competition.

"I've lost games before, been knocked out of competitions before but never failed to qualified before.

"The only thing we can do is come together and show that English mentality of coming back from adversity.

"We have to come back from this, for our nation, for our players, for the talent we've got in our nation.

"To not be involved in the Euros is a huge, huge thing and it is devastating, not just for the players but for the fans."

Beckham, who won his 99th cap on Wednesday, was the last player off the Wembley pitch as he applauded all four sides of the stadium.

It was easy to interpret Beckham's gesture as a last farewell, but he has no plans to retire from international football and is confident he could still be involved at the 2010 World Cup.

"I do it every game. I did it in Austria and I'll carry on doing it wherever I play," he said.

"I've got no reason for myself to staep down and to not make myself available for England.

"I've said I'd love to be involved in 2010 but eight months ago I didn't expect myself to be here playing at Wembley. We will see what the future holds."