Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand admits England were becoming "a circus" under previous managers Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren.

"We became a bit of a circus, if I'm honest, in terms of the whole WAG situation," Ferdinand said. "It seems like there was a big show around the whole England squad.

"It was like watching a theatre unfolding and football almost became a secondary element to the main event.

"People were worrying more about what people were wearing and where they were going, rather than the England football team.

"That then transposed itself into the team. This regime is very water-tight. If I'm honest, it feels as if we're going in the right direction.

"I don't want to speak too soon, but you can see we're at the start of something and, hopefully, there'll be bigger rewards than what we've had in the past."