Curbishley dismisses England talk

Alan Curbishley has distanced himself from reports linking him with the England manager's job.

Current England head coach Steve McClaren was thought to be on the verge of receiving his marching orders until Israel did him (and the nation) an unlikely favour by beating Russia 2-1 last night - a result that means England can now qualify for next summer's European Championships by taking a point from Wednesday night's fixture against Croatia.

Despite the reprieve talk of McClaren's possible successor continues, and once again Curbishley's name has bene mentioned.

But Curbs today ruled himself out of the running by pledging his future to West Ham United, adding that he had 'no intention' of leaving.

"I'm ruling myself out entirely," he told The Observer.

"This is where I want to be and this is where I want to be successful, so I've got no intention of leaving the club.

"When I was at Charlton I had all sorts of clauses in the contract - and that's why I was given permission to talk in the first place.

"But I didn't seek any of those sort of things in [my current] contract."

Curbishley was one of those interviewed for the vacant England post when Sven Goran Eriksson was dismissed last summer. Another - Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill - has refused to rule himself out of the race to succeed McClaren.