Scolari Rejects England Job

Luiz Felipe Scolari announced today that he has changed his mind about becoming the next England manager and no longer wants the job. The Brazilian, who was offered a five-to-seven-year contract by the FA yesterday, said his turnaround was due to the "intrusive publicity" that followed reports of his meeting with the FA yesterday.

Scolari is currently in charge of Portugal, with whom he has a contract until July 31, but had admitted his interest in taking over from Sven-Goran Eriksson when the current England manager steps down after the World Cup. However, the 57-year-old now says the attention of the British press has put him off. "There have been 20 journalists camped outside my house since yesterday," he said today. "I don't like this pressure. It may be part of another culture, but it's not part of mine.

"The FA has a list of names it will choose its next manager from, but mine isn't one of them because I am closing this matter now."

"I am happy that they considered me but I don't want anything more to do with this because for two days my life has been invaded and my privacy destroyed."

The withdrawal of Scolari is a blow to the FA, which was confident of hiring the man it believed to be the best qualified for the job. Scolari has won a host of club trophies and, as manager of Brazil, knocked England out of the 2002 World Cup before, as manager of Portugal, eliminating them from Euro 2004.

Middlesbrough's Steve McClaren now seems the most likely man to replace Eriksson, though Bolton's Sam Allardyce, Charlton's Alan Curbishley and former Leicester and Celtic boss Martin O'Neill will all come back into the running too.