Former England defender Gareth Southgate is confident new national boss Steve McClaren will learn from his predecessor's World Cup mistakes.
McClaren will succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson on August 1 and start plotting a path to the finals of Euro 2008 after another desperately disappointing conclusion to a major tournament. However, while 57-times-capped Southgate was diplomatic about the Swede's swansong, he believes his successor will take the lessons he learned in Germany to heart.
Asked about the criticism, he said: "Whether it's justified or not, everyone will have been sad we went out at the stage we did. But the great thing with Steve having been part of this squad and taking it on now is that I'm sure he will learn."
He continued: "He will have his own ideas as to taking things forward, but he's in the perfect position to assess what didn't work and to put it right.
"He has to look to the future, and I'm sure he's going to do that."
Southgate hit the headlines last season as Boro prepared for their FA Cup semi-final clash with West Ham when he was quoted as saying McClaren was not ready to be England manager and issued a frank assessment of the job he had done at the Riverside Stadium.
However, he later clarified his comments, saying in an ideal world, the three main English candidates - McClaren, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley - would have been more experienced when the opportunity came along, and threw his weight behind the FA's chosen man.
The Yorkshireman has already been linked with approaches for vastly-experienced coach Terry Venables and former England captain Alan Shearer to join his staff, and that does not surprise Southgate.
He said: "It seems as if he's going to bring in some new staff and freshen things up, and he will want to do things very professionally, there's no question about that.
"That can only be good."
