"It was a very, very poor performance last night from our lads, though it always comes down to the manager," he said.

"But I have always said there are too many foreign players in the game here over the last two or three years and we would suffer because of it. Now it's coming true.

"A lot of young English lads are not playing week in week out in the Premiership because of all the foreigners and then we are asking them to play at international level.

"It is my opinion and I am entitled to it.


"I felt sorry for the keeper, letting in a goal like that. But we didn't close the man down who was shooting from distance.

"We were too deep all round and Croatia passed us off the pitch. They were better than us on the night."

This morning's FA inquest saw manager Steve McLaren sacked and Dearden said: "I am always disappointed when a manager loses his job.

"It is a big disappointment for Steve and I know how he will be feeling this morning.

"He felt he had made the right team selection decisions and at 2-2 everyone thought we had at least got the draw. But I think we had too many key players out in the end.

"I think we must now appoint a manager who had done it as a player at international level which Steve hadn't. But I couldn't put a finger on who.

"There is a lot of pressure with the job but it is very well paid."