Step by step

Euro 2012: it does exactly what it says on the tin

In the hours before kick off against Ukraine, the England fans, just like eight days before when we played France, congregated around the Golden Lion pub. The pub is situated in the city centre with a giant Lenin statue adjacent. What the Russian revolutionary would have made of it all is anyone’s guess.

The most intriguing aspect was certainly the few Ukrainians, some making their regular walk home from work that they may have been doing for a decade or more, daring not look in the direction of the English supporters for fear of reprisal.

Then there were others that would just come and watch, almost like children on their first day at the zoo. There are obvious comparisons but I will let you draw your own.

The atmosphere both in and outside the stadium was a good one, though the home support was less fervent once England scored.

And the away support? Well behaved, respecting the Ukrainian national anthem, which I know should be a given, but is often flouted at Wembley.

There is one thing to add that intrigues me about England fans: what is all this about ‘England til I tie’? As if an England fan is going to suddenly wake up tomorrow and discover he’s Icelandic.

Anyway, it is a pity that both host nations have exited the competition at the group stage. Talking of the group stage, this is now at an end and despite England’s best efforts, the tournament has yet to garner a goalless draw. Perhaps Italy are the ideal opponents for the Three Lions to break that record.

This tournament has rightly been heralded as one of the best for many a year. However, it might be a good idea to wait until it is over before bestowing such an honour as tournaments are generally defined by its knockout stages and there will be plenty of opportunities for Greece, England and Italy to yet turn this competition into a forgettable stinker.

Now it is back to Kiev for England’s quarter final but when and how have yet to be decided. It would be great to hold fire in Donetsk until Saturday night’s quarter final between France and Spain that is here at the Donbass Arena.

However, the Ukrainian transport network is doing its best to conspire against me. There is only one train to the capital on Sunday morning and that is fully booked. There are murmurings that many locals, call them touts if you will, have bought up all the tickets and trying to sell them off for a huge profit. If so, there is something that the authorities should do about this. This is extremely unlikely as they have slightly bigger fish to fry. Namely the £2.5 billion in state funds opposition leaders claim was illegally awarded for no-bid contracts for Euro 2012. Confused? Read more on this topic from the experts:

Talking of off the pitch misdemeanours: when is someone going to get a grip at UEFA? I know it has been mentioned aplenty but the moral outrage to the pitiful fines dished out for racism compared with the £80,000 fine for Nicolas Bendtner flashing his sponsored pants is fully justified.