Euro feats are not what they used to be

The European Championship has become a Montessori sports day where everyone gets a medal

John Delaney was one of the most forceful backers of expansion

On Tuesday, Ireland named their squad. In eight days, they’ll kick off their campaign with a must-win game. In between the hype and excitement will be heated and slowly brought to a boil.

Yet for this, our third European Championships and sixth major tournament, you can’t escape the feeling it’s all a little manufactured and forced despite the rarity. That’s because there’s the key question of whether we deserve to be in what ...