Ireland guaranteed they'll be in the European Championships. While I am happy about that, the feeling is insignificant to me compared to an Arsenal win.

I've long since realised, I don't care if there ever is another EC or WC again. In the past, the WC and EC were exciting because they afforded us the chance to see players we had only ever heard of before. They were exotic, unknown quantities and often they amazed us with skills we never saw before.

Now, we see these players almost every other week playing in our League or the CL for better teams than they play in when competing in the World Cup or European Championships. International football is of a lower quality and is more often than not mind-numbingly boring as teams try to avoid losing and the new skills we saw in the past are replaced with new ways to simulate and time-waste.

And don't get me started on the corporate greed that envelops those competitions - I can't do it the justice NQ would.