I had to favour Chelsea as England boss because of problem we never resolved

One former England boss bemoaned the lack of national identity and club rivalries that hampered his time in charge

Former England manager Steve McClaren has confessed he favoured Chelsea players out of necessaity during his brief spell in charge. The 64-year-old had an ill-fated tenure at the Three Lions helm and was sacked after 15 months in the role having failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

At the time of his arrival, McClaren made the bold decision to drop a then-31-year-old David Beckham and named John Terry as captain instead. Not only that, but he has now suggested he leaned into favouring Chelsea players over certain stars from clubs like Manchester United or Liverpool, because they were on the rise and had a strong corps of players ready-made.

Beckham eventually made his way back into the squad, but it's perhaps indicative that a legend like Paul Scholes earned his last cap in 2004. Ahead of England's friendly against Uruguay on Friday, McClaren addressed the cliquey situation while speaking to Tony Pulis and Mick McCarthy on The Managers podcast.

"Culture beats anything," he responded when asked by Pulis if he felt the effects of the bigger club rivalries within England's camp. "You get a team of lads who run for each other, they'll beat anybody! They'll beat anybody. And we could never get that. There was always an air of United, Liverpool...

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"And then all of a sudden, Chelsea are coming through. And I'm looking at it, going, 'Do I go United? Do I go Liverpool? Do I go Chelsea?' And I went with Chelsea, because Beckham was kind of [on a downward trajectory]. So you could never get that culture, that togetherness.

"And when you get that togetherness....oh my god, it's so strong. It's so strong, and that culture, people running for each other...it beats anybody."

McCarthy chimed in and agreed "you won't succeed with rivalries" among the squad. He acknowledged "healthy rivalries" can add a positive form of competition, but the genuine kind built on animosity will only act as an obstacle.

Putting such tensions to one side perhaps isn't solely a manager's responsibility and could be handled by the players. However, it doesn't sound as though McClaren was quite able to navigate how to bring those personalities together.

"We pussyfooted around," he continued. "Instead of going, 'Come on, there's gotta be a bit of conflict to sort this out. Y'know, fight the two or whatever. But there was never [a direct confrontation], everyone was kind of [raises hands] just at a distance."

One can understand why McClaren might lean on the likes of Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Ashley Cole (who had just arrived at Stamford Bridge) following his arrival at the England helm. Chelsea had just become back-to-back Premier League champions in 2006 and were clearly the dominant club force domestically.

However, his tenure serves as a lesson in how national team relationships need to be far more nuanced than simple club connections. And it stands to reason that he praised Thomas Tuchel's predecessor, Gareth Southgate, for getting that side of the game so right during his time as chief.