I've been saying to mates who normally follow England to these tournaments that I reckoned, primarily because our shirts-off, "two world wars" chanting fans won't be there this summer, that the likelihood of the tournament being partly ruined by pub tables being thrown across town squares was unlikely to happen this summer.

Now I'll admit I'm not speaking from first-hand experience, as some of them are, but several of them who have "been there and seen it" reckon that our absence won't matter a jot, as the Poles and Dutch, in particular, will still be up for "a bit of fun" with the Germans, possibly the Austrians will as well, and the Italians, Croats and Turks are equally as likely to have a go as anyone else.

Is my perception wrong,then? Is it only when England are involved that what should be a "friendly finals" tends to turn into Marseilles in 1998, or are we likely to have to suffer the same kind of scenes on TV despite England's non-attendance?