Terry Venables should act as a mentor to whoever gets the job now, the way Bobby Robson is doing for the Irish Gareth Southgate

Southgate, who won 57 caps for England, does not believe that any of the English bosses in the frame - including McClaren - have enough experience.

"If you had them four years on you would have the ideal scenario," he said in the Sunday Times.

"They would all have had much more experience and would probably have worked at bigger clubs."

McClaren is thought to be the favourite to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson as England coach after the World Cup finals.

Bolton's Sam Allardyce and Charlton's Alan Curbishley are the other English names widely reported to have been interviewed for the position.

Former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill and Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scholari are the other coaches believed to be on the FA's shortlist.

Southgate suggested that if the job is given to the likes of McClaren, Allardyce, Curbishley or O'Neill then the FA should appoint a more experienced man to act as a mentor.

He added: "It's a really difficult decision. It should be much easier next time with this group of young managers coming through.

The number of meetings we, the team, have and the coaching staff have is a standing joke among the players Gareth Southgate

"I'm not sure that they are ready now.

"My heart tells me it should be an Englishman but if you ask me who I think would be the best I would have Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

"He would be absolutely brilliant and I would love to see England play the way Arsenal do. That would be the ultimate.

"Terry Venables is the best coach I've ever worked with. He has been ahead of everything and everyone and I don't understand why he's not still involved at the highest level.

Middlesbrough v West Ham

"He should act as a mentor to whoever gets the job now, the way Bobby Robson is doing for the Irish."

McClaren, who has been part of the England coaching set-up for the majority of Eriksson's time in charge, was the assistant coach during a hugely successful time at Manchester United, including the winning of the Treble in 1999.

He led Middlesbrough to their first domestic trophy in 2004 when they won the League Cup and has taken them to the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup and FA Cup this season.

Schwarzer handed in a transfer request earlier this sesaon

McClaren has led the club to Premiership safety this season after a dip in from that led to them going nine Premiership games without a win - including a 7-0 defeat by Arsenal - that led to some fans calling for his head.

But Southgate, who will miss Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against West Ham because of injury, suggests that it was Boro's senior players who sparked the turnaround in fortunes.

He said: "There was a lot that had to be sorted out at that time and it was the dressing room, as much as the manager, that put things right.

"The manager was under pressure and the dressing room had to take the responsibility to pull things around.

"There was so much going on behind the scenes then. The chairman deserves a lot of credit because at that point it looked as if good players were going and he put a block on that.

"We would have lost Mark Schwarzer, Ugo Ehiogu and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink but for him and they have all played significant parts in our revival.

"The manager wanted to bring in new blood and was prepared to sell those three to do it."

Southgate said McClaren's strengths are his organisational skills.

He said: "He is a very organised guy. The number of meetings we, the team, have and the coaching staff have is a standing joke among the players.

"Seriously, he wants to be well-prepared, he wants input from his staff and he seeks opinions."