Venables, left, was brought into the England set-up by McClaren

Assistant coach Venables appeared to contradict McClaren over the reasons Stewart Downing did not start the Euro 2008 qualifier in Croatia last month.

McClaren has since issued his own rebuttal of the suggestions, and Venables added: "Talk of a division between us is simply not true.

"I just expanded on why we used 3-5-2 against Croatia. There's no problem."

In his newspaper column in the News of the World, Venables had said Downing was dropped because his confidence was destroyed by criticism of his performance in the 0-0 draw with Macedonia.

There is closeness about the group again Terry Venables

But McClaren told the Middlesbrough winger the decision was purely tactical.

Suggestions of a falling out angered McClaren in the build up to last week's friendly draw with Holland, prompting him to ask reporters: "Why are you trying to separate players and myself and even the staff?"

And Venables insists the team and staff are looking to build on the encouraging 1-1 draw in Amsterdam.

"Yes, there is more to do - and we have to take these positives into next year when the competitive matches start again," he said.

"But we were looking for evidence of a strong team building - and we got them.

"There is closeness about the group again. It seemed as if we took a big step forward."