The Premier League was down to a handful of players by the semi-final stage, but none of them could have fitted into the fluent style that earned Spain their deserved victory.

Indeed the whole tournament should have been an eye-opener for our FA. Rio Ferdinand could get into most European teams, but I don't believe there was a single other Englishman good enough to play for Spain.

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard may be great athletes, but they are so technically far behind the likes of Xavi, Senna and Fabregas they should accept that international honours are not going to arrive in their lifetime.

Similarly Liverpool are on the verge of splashing £10 million on Gareth Barry.

What the hell does that make the Spanish midfielders worth? About £100 million apiece at that rate.

Before this tournament started I was gutted England weren't part of it. By the end I was pleased because we would have been embarrassed, almost as badly as the Italians,



WHY in this country do we celebrate long service as much as ability?

The nauseating tributes offered to BBC football commentator John Motson upon his retirement at the weekend were particularly ill-deserved.

I agree he did well to last as long as he did, mainly because he's been abysmal for the last 10 years at least.

If you're going to make pre-rehearsed soundbites at least make them funny or interesting.

Motson's were usually cringe-worthy, contrived and crap, and as for the endless stream of stupifying statistics, words fail me.

Motson also failed regularly in the biggest single skill a commentator requires, and that is to accurately describe the action in front of him.

His cock-up over the goal at the FA Cup final should have seen him bombed off our screens for good. If he was a manager he'd have been sacked decades ago and he'd never have found work again, if he'd been a player he would have been dropped for poor performances and never seen again.

Sadly he survived and delivered his usual incompetent performance in the European Championship final.

The only reason Motson doesn't state the obvious is because he's usually missing it - I swear he must watch a different TV screen to the rest of us.

I'd rather have my eyes poked out with a sharp stick or even watch an hour of Big Brother than celebrate such mediocrity.



I WOULDN'T select Paul Collingwood for the England cricket team again, never mind return him to the one-day captaincy.

It's not just that he let the sporting world down by failing to recall Grant Elliott at the end of that infamous incident against New Zealand last week, but the fact that's been found out at international level anyway.

I've always suspected he was surviving on a competitive nature with the bat and some brilliant fielding. Unfortunately he has no technique to fall back on now that he's aging and his worth in the side is now negligible.

His captaincy has proven inadequate as losing two series in a row against the Kiwis suggests so it's time to say goodbye to Colly.