McClaren was asked to give his assessment of England’s year when he met children at a school in London in an event organised by England sponsors Nationwide.

He joined Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez, Scotland boss Walter Smith and Wales’ John Toshack at the event, staged to review the home nations’ international football year and to promote a Cats’ Eyes for Kids child road safety scheme.

Of course McClaren has only been in charge of the England side since August but, having also been assistant before that, he was well placed to gauge the team’s progress.

He said: "It has been an interesting year. It is unbelievable that we never lost a game, yet went out on penalties in the quarter finals of the World Cup.

"We have gone out of the last two tournaments on penalties now and this time we could not have practiced any more than we did. All we hope for next year is to get back into that arena again and make sure we qualify for the next tournament.

"We need to go one step further or two steps further and we are quite capable of doing something.

"I would rate us as a six-and-a-half out of ten for the year. Everyone would say we can do better - and that is the aim. That is what we will be trying to do."

McClaren admits the disappointment of last summer’s World Cup left an unwelcome legacy for fans and players and was difficult to overcome.

But he still believes his team have made progress since returning home from Germany and are in good shape to improve even further in 2007.

He said: "The World Cup was a massive disappointment for everybody, for the fans, the media and especially the players.

"After that there was a lack of belief and faith from everybody - the public and the media because we had such high expectations. To be brought crashing back down to earth like that took us some time to recover.

"But I am delighted with the attitude of the players and delighted with the talent coming through since then.

"We all have a responsibility to maintain a belief and trust in each other that we can go on to become better and better. Everybody wants that but no-one more than myself and the players. The public wants to see it, the fans want to see it. We have to deliver. We have to stand up and be counted."

McClaren believes his players are now recovered from their World Cup hangover and was delighted with the performance against Holland in Amsterdam recently. And he is expecting even more from his side in future.

He added: "All the players have experienced dips since the World Cup. Players do have a loss of form after major tournaments and they can take five or six months to get something like that out of the way. But in the New Year I expect us to be right again.

"When their backs are against the wall, the English players all have the same attitude. They will fight right to the end. That is when English players come to the fore. That is what we have to do. We have to get back into that arena again."