Those who reckoned it might "not be worth watching" as England weren't there will either have been pleasantly surprised or missed out on some good stuff.

Quite why supposed football followers shouldn't watch anyway is a puzzle.

Given that most people trek week in, week out - and pay for the privilege too - of watching teams and players at a much lower level, why wouldn't you take the opportunity to watch Europe's finest beamed into your front room?

You'd certainly have seen Manchester United's (or is that Real Madrid's?) Ronaldo show that he is a mardy sod. Rather like a spoilt kid who is great when things are going his way but will sulk and pout if they aren't.

He wore the captain's armband for the final 20 minutes of Portugal's exit to Germany and, at the end, walked off, removing the armband and without so much as a handshake or acknowledgement.

A bad loser - but bad losers can still show some dignity in defeat. Nothing dignified either in the way he is playing off Man Utd against Real.

At one stage, this story of will-he-won't-he was threatening to overshadow all else in the tournament. Another reason to be glad Portugal got knocked out.

A final thought.

I knew we - that's England - were a bit behind many in Europe. I didn't realise how far behind we have actually dropped.

Mind you, many people reckon we should always do well.

We play Croatia in a World Cup qualifier in September in Zagreb. We should start that as absolutely rank outsiders.

After all, they beat us over there in the Euro qualifiers and then they come and win at Wembley when they'd nothing on it and we needed only a draw to qualify.

So, what did one England follower say this week rather matter of factly ... "We should get a draw over there."

I was astounded and I refer you to the previous paragraph but one. On what grounds "should" we get a draw?

HAS the game gone mad? Part one.

Perhaps confirmation of a 'yes' comes with this week's news that West Ham have put an £8 million tag on Anton Ferdinand. Yes, rub your eyes. £8m.

Some dodgy dealings might go off in the old East End of London but nothing beats this attempt to extract £8m for just about the most overrated defender in the Premier League.

Because he's got a fancy name, his brother is who he is and he plays in the media spotlight in London, he seems to have acquired a reputation far beyond his worth.

If he played in a Premiership backwater up, say, in Middlesbrough, and had a plain name like Bill Smith, he wouldn't have merited a mention anywhere.

HAS the game gone mad? Part Two.

Well, not really.

Sheffield United players have demonstrated the sort of generosity we don't hear about often enough amid all the talk of overpaid players.

A Sportsmen's Dinner in Barnsley on Monday - organised by former Oakwell commercial manager Darren Hayes as a thank you to Weston Park Hospital for their help during his treatment for testicular cancer - raised thousands for the hospital's Cancer Appeal.

Blades captain and ex-Barnsley defender Chris Morgan organised a whipround among his Blades players and so the appeal was boosted by the sum of £3,000.

Incidentally, one of the speakers, Jan Molby, told of how he had agreed verbally on a contract with Howard Wilkinson when he was manager at Sheffield Wednesday before back-tracking to take up the offer of a 10-day trial with Liverpool.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

READ MORE

Football headlines
More Blades
More Owls
More Spireites
More Rovers
More Reds
More Millers
More Ice Hockey
More rugby league
More rugby union
More boxing
Sports columnists
All sport categories