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By Mike Collett
LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Head coach Steve McClaren took "full responsibility" for England's exit from Euro 2008 on Wednesday but said he had no intention of resigning from the job he has held for 15 months.
However, the English FA announced after the 3-2 defeat to Croatia at Wembley that cost England their place in next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland that a board meeting would be held on Thursday morning, starting at 0830 GMT.
"I am not going to discuss my future," a shaken-looking McClaren told reporters after the staggering loss.
"I am not going to discuss it so soon after a huge disappointment. I have no intention of offering my resignation."
He accepted that his team made mistakes and were second best on the night, adding: "I am just trying to take in the huge disappointment that we won't be there next summer.
"I take full responsibility. I always said we deserve to be where we finish up in the group -- and we didn't deserve to qualify."
Croatia won the group with 29 points. Russia, who beat Andorra 1-0 on Wednesday, finished second on 24 points and England third on 23.
BOLD DECISIONS
McClaren took two bold decisions for the match. He left out his recognised number one goalkeeping choice Paul Robinson and drafted in Scott Carson for only his second England cap. He also left out former skipper David Beckham, but brought Beckham on at halftime for his 99th cap.
"I would make the same decisions again," he said.
"Mistakes at the start cost us, but I thought Carson was ready (to play) and I stick by that decision. He made a fantastic save in the second half.
"There was always going to be mistakes on that (wet and slippery) pitch and we made too many -- but Croatia are a good team and they looked like scoring every time they went forward.
"That's hard to take, to concede three goals at Wembley. Before the start I wouldn't have thought that was possible.
"It is a huge disappointment. We have let the nation down, the people here in the stadium, those watching at home. So many people had so many high hopes and we have not delivered."
England, who needed a draw to qualify for the finals, made a dreadful start as Niko Kranjcar and Ivica Olic scored in the first 14 minutes to put Croatia 2-0 up.
England fought back to level at 2-2 with a Frank Lampard penalty after 56 minutes and a stunning Peter Crouch volley nine minutes later.
England remained level -- and in the finals -- for the next 12 minutes before Croatian substitute Mladen Petric scored Croatia's winner.
McClaren and his men were booed by the majority of the 88,000 crowd at the final whistle, but despite that, he remains England's coach for now and also told reporters he expected to head for South Africa on Thursday as part of the FA delegation for Sunday's World Cup qualifying round draw in Durban.
Whether he is still in the job by the time the flight leaves Heathrow Airport will be decided on Thursday morning. (Editing by Rex Gowar)
