I am always surprised when I see television companies hailing the fact they have won the rights to the coverage of the national football team.
Do they really think we are going to enjoy what they have to offer?
It was a familiar story in Barcelona at the weekend as Fabio Capello's side gave a performance that is unlikely to have struck fear into the hearts of the waiting Croatians.
The first half was, frankly, appalling.
Well, the bits I saw were, Sky had Andy Murray's gripping US Open semi-final live at the same time and even for a football supporter there seemed little contest.
While the Scot was showing guile, determination and a ruthless streak, the footballers were struggling to come to terms with the tinkers, tailors, soldiers and sailors - or some such - from the Pyrenean mountain retreat ranked 186 in the world.
The likes of Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard were every bit as dire as I had feared seven days ago.
Fortunately, Joe Cole was on hand with another rescue act, taking his goals well to at least give us a win to cheer.
Having bagged his double, Cole was then lambasted, along with Rooney, by the manager for failing to support Emile Heskey as the game fizzled out.
Surely for England to get anything in Zagreb tomorrow night, the Chelsea man has to start.
One question I would like to ask is why cannot England be more like the Germans?
They opened their campaign against similar opposition in Liechtenstein and returned from Vaduz with a 6-0 win.
That's how it should be done.
The Andorra game capped a pretty miserable afternoon and evening for Setanta who started with Scotland losing in Macedonia and continued with Northern Ireland's defeat in Slovakia.
A sound investment in international football?


I predicted problems at Newcastle a few weeks ago when Kevin Keegan admitted he knew nothing about the prospective signing of Argentinean Fabricio Coloccini.
In the end, the 'Messiah' left Tyneside because he felt Dennis Wise and Mike Ashley were trying to sell players behind his back.
Heart-on-his-sleeve Kev was always going to walk away at some stage, it is in his nature.
And not for the first time he has been able to go with his head held high and the fans on his side.
He was right to make a stand.


Pay the £15, get the beers in and settle down.
Then, 54 seconds later you have the rest of the evening to yourself.
That was pretty much how Saturday night went for anyone who watched Amir Khan's latest fight as he was knocked out by Colombian Breidis Prescott.
I felt before the fight that switching from prime time ITV to pay-per-view was a risk for Khan.
It is so easy to find yourself out of the spotlight and that is a real danger for a boxer who is in danger of losing his way.