Eurozoned...The last Blog.

So despite all the misgivings of many this years Euro Championship has,by general consensus,been a resounding success.

The BBC programme Panorama highlighted a problem in both Poland & Ukraine with extreme right wing football hooligans whereby a few sub humans from both countries would disrupt the tournament to such a degree that it prompted ex England centre back Sol Campbell to announce fans would be coming back in body bags...Media satirist Chris Morris could not have done a better job...This was not satire though and i feel the BBC owe both countries a huge apology...

There was a little trouble,most notably when Poland played Russia but this was more to do with centuries of conflict between the two countries than anything football related.The game was just the opportunity to get it on...

There was thankfully nowhere near the amount of racist abuse dished out to the black players as was feared.However one incident is one too many.Ironically when it came it was'nt from either Polish or Ukraine fans but from Spanish,Croatian and Russian fans.How grown adults get a kick from making monkey noises at someone simply because they have different coloured skin is beyond my comprehension.They class all different races as sub humans whereas it's they themselves who need to get the card stamped "Fully paid up member of the Human race"

Oh and well done England fans.Not one arrest in the three weeks...

Anyway enough of that.What of the football?

Well i thought it was superb.The winners Spain finally showed their real self with a resounding 4-0 win over Italy in the final.I think the Spanish team had been stung by accusations of being boring and Italy paid the price last night.

They have now won three major Championships on the trot and can rightfully claim to be one of the best International teams ever.I still prefer the 1970 Brazil team but that's probably a generation thing.

Apart from Spain The Italians can be proud of their part as can Germany and even Greece.The Germans are still a work in progress and once they sort out their dodgy defence will be a World force again.

Holland & France were the biggest disappointments.The Dutch have real talent but need to get all their players pulling in the same direction to make the most of their talent.Meanwhile i assumed Laurent Blanc had sorted out the problems with the French team but they quickly reverted to internal squabbling.Sami Nasri being a particular example of the Diva footballer...

My player of the tournament is Stuart Downing...Nah only joking.There were a few big names that could be named as player of the Euros.Pirlo,Ronaldo,Iniesta.But i'm going to plump for Alonso of Spain. He was the engine room of the eventual winners and despite not being the Worldwide name was always reliable and kept his team ticking over...

Like many i watched the games on TV and frankly the number of quality pundits on either channel can be counted on the fingers of one hand...on a double amputee...

The best in my view were Klinsmann,Vialli, Seedorf and Martinez.With an honourable mention for Lee Dixon.The rest were just laughable.

Shearer showed his stupidity when saying Balotelli had won nothing despite winning league and cup titles in two different countries.Lawro sounded like he hated the game and grumbled his way through every game.You're being paid to watch and comment on one of the worlds greatest football competitions you tosser!

Meanwhile on ITV Roy Keane had the all round malevolence of a serial killer on day release...Capping it off with slating the Irish fans for supporting their team.

England did what England does.Get's to the quarter finals and no further.Frankly unless we sort out our inability to retain possession of the ball then that's as far as were ever going to get...

Meanwhile UEFA are in the process of destroying the make up of a very good tournament by increasing the teams next time to 24,Thereby diluting the quality. There is even talk of the Euros being held in 13 different cities in 13 different countries in the future.A disaster waiting to happen for the game.

All in all i enjoyed the Euro's and any fears i had about the whole tournament were quickly and rightly expelled...

I wonder what the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will bring...