Glenn Hoddle is not the first football manager to face the sack. It is an occupational hazard.

The axe usually falls after a run of poor results, but England's performances - dismal though they have been - are not to blame for putting the coach's career in jeopardy. Only one man can take that responsibility - Glenn Hoddle himself.

His comments that disabled people are being punished for sins they committed in former lives could have come straight out of the Dark Ages. Hoddle is entitled to hold these beliefs, even if they are abhorrent to most of us. He is free to express them. But he cannot do so and expect to continue as England coach.

That position comes with important responsibilities. The main one is to make England into a winning team. But the coach is also an ambassador and a role model.

Hoddle's remarks have infuriated and upset disabled people. He has let down his fans, his game and his country.

His apology has done little to limit the damage. The claim that his words were "twisted" by The Times has faltered since it emerged that he said something very similar on the radio before the World Cup.

Football Association bosses now have to decide Hoddle's future. Their task would be more difficult had this been the first blot on an otherwise clean copybook.

But Glenn Hoddle's behaviour in and out of the England dressing room has ranged from the unseemly to the bizarre. This is the man who describes himself as a devout Christian and yet left his wife and three children for another woman.

It was Hoddle who baffled the football world by bringing in faith healer Eileen Drewery as an adviser to the England squad.

It was Hoddle who controversially dropped Paul Gascoigne from the World Cup, misled the press about his confrontation with the player and complained about invasion of privacy when reporters persisted in asking him about it. He went on to publish the full account in his 'kick and tell' France 98 memoir.

This tawdry money-making exercise also put Hoddle at loggerheads with his players. The Professional Footballers' Association accusing him of being unprofessional for revealing all in the book.

FA bosses may have been considering the England coach's future before his "disabled sinners" outburst. Now they are left with no choice. Glenn Hoddle must go.

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