Defender Neville left reporters in no doubt about how highly Eriksson is valued by his squad following a press conference at England’s St Albans training base today.

The Manchester United star is delighted Eriksson has come through a tough summer, including seeing England knocked out of Euro 2004 at the quarter-final stage, to lead them in the battle to qualify for the World Cup Finals of 2006.

And he insists there should be no added pressure on the Three Lions Head Coach as they prepare to face Austria next Saturday and Poland four days later.

Neville said: "I think we have got as good a manager as England could possibly have. I genuinely believe that. He’s created a calm around the team and the players believe in him. I think the fans believe in him too – the reception that both the players and he gets everywhere shows that.

"We have only lost two matches in competitive football under him over 90 minutes. That was against Brazil and France.

"In terms of actual results you have to say we have progressed a lot in the last three years under this manager.

"It’s unrealistic to think ‘let’s sack him and bring in somebody else’ and go down the same road of before. No, we have got to keep this manager because he is one of the best managers in the world, everybody accepts that. We have to remain stable and sacking the manager is not even an option. This manager is someone we should be delighted to have. There are probably only five or six managers in the world and he’s one of them."

Neville is confident England can go to Vienna and Katowice next week and get off to a flying start in their qualifying campaign. But he can’t understand why anyone would criticise Eriksson for the way he has guided the team so far.

He said: "Who’s putting him under pressure and why? We should have a football manager for England for a long period of time who can bring continuity and stability. That’s the way success is always bred. We’re not going to have a chance if we keep changing our manager every year and a half.

"I had three or four England managers in my first five years. You don’t know whether you are coming or going. You are changing tactics, changing systems, changing squads and even ideals. Let’s just stick with what we’ve got because it’s worked quite well."

Neville admits, however, that he was hugely disappointed not to come away from Portugal with a winners’ medal.

England went into the tournament with a real belief that they could win it and the players remain determined to make amends in Germany in two years time.

Neville said: "I woke up every morning in the build up to Euro 2004 and even during the tournament thinking we were going to win it. I genuinely believed it. But for one reason or another it didn't happen.

"We have to start again and that's the biggest disappointment. You feel you are closing in on the top of the mountain but then you fall all the way down to the bottom. We have to wait two years to put it right. But we’re determined and we have the right manager and players to do it."