Unhappy Venables may quit England

Venables, whose tactical flair drove England to the semi-finals of Euro 96, revealed to a meeting of business leaders in London on Friday that he needed a lot of persuading to return to England duty as McClaren's No 2 and that their partnership is still on trial.

The 63-year-old said: "I told Steve from day one that I didn't think I could do the job because it was going to be very frustrating for me. I had been a decision-maker for 30 years. He said to give it a go. I will be happy to do that for a period of time to see if we do get on. Basically, that's where we are now."

While Venables insisted that he wants to give his new role a chance and is sure to be in the dugout for England's next game, a friendly against Spain in February, his comments open the door for an abrupt departure if England struggle against Israel in their next European Championship qualifier in March.

Venables was blamed in some quarters for persuading McClaren to play a 5-3-2 formation in Croatia in October.

England lost that game 2-0 and currently lie third in their Euro 2008 qualification group.

McClaren denied there was a rift with Venables after the two men gave different explanations as to why Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing was dropped for the Croatia game.