OH IRELAND
Well, that was close. Despite all the media pearl-clutching over mass withdrawals and the inexplicable no-show of a new manager who – Football Daily checks notes – is not due to start work until the new year, England somehow stumbled over the line to win promotion back to the top tier of European football’s equivalent of the old quiz show Turnabout. A lunchtime show of such byzantine complexity even its host has gone on the record saying he didn’t understand the rules, it still attracted a huge audience because … well, it was on. And so it came to pass that Wembley was filled to capacity on Sunday for a match billed as “must-win” for England, even if a sizeable proportion of those in attendance had no idea why. Look, it was something to do.
