Mark Daniels: So the football's over. Well done, Spain.

But I have to say that, more importantly, it's been quite nice not having the pressure of trading through a major football tournament and I question whether we really actually missed it.

Yes, I know, the industry - from little outlets like mine through to national managed high street chain pubs - has lost out financially. We could have had packed pubs and ringing tills and cheering landlords and I might, finally, have been able to convince my wife that I can actually afford that PlayStation 3 that I've been hankering after for so long, but did anybody notice how nice the pubs have been throughout this tournament?

Two years ago, when England got knocked out of the World Cup, I had crowds of angry, distraught customers shouting and swearing at the television. I actually thought my shiny new plasma TV was going to get broken. One guy was actually crying at the bar, bawling that he just wants to see England win it once in his lifetime. He was 23 years old, for crying out loud. Let's say it takes England another forty years before they win the Cup again (please, Lord, let it not take so long, I don't think I can cope) then this chap would be 63. In this modern day and age the chances are that he might still be around then to see it in his lifetime, so I couldn't quite see why he was so worried.

When England were knocked out of the qualifiers for this year's Euro cup I had to actually comfort a guy that was crying like an eight year old. I didn't think he was physically capable of driving his car home - not because of alcohol, but because I thought he might actually have done himself some harm, so upset was he.

I don't mind a good game of football - in fact, I quite enjoy it when it's played well - but I have never been able to understand the level of importance people bestow on the game over other sports.

Football, I tend to find, brings out the worst in people. In this country, it seems to cause more problems than money, religion and politics combined and we place so much emphasis on the importance of our national team winning these tournaments that we revere them like Gods and then stone them like heretics. It's no wonder our players cannot string a decent game together.

We stand them on pedestals, turn them into exalted beings so that they truly feel invincible. They command massive salaries, drive cars so glamorous they make Saudi Oil Sheiks weep and we generally let them off heinous crimes with a naughty-boy slap on the wrist. Like Michael Schumacher in Formula One, therefore, they feel like they simply deserve to win every game, that they should be gifted the victory. That it is their right.

And then, of course, they lose.

Because of this, I think it's quite good that they haven't been able to play in this year's championship. Not for us, the fans or the Publicans who provide a service for the fans to watch the games, but for the team. It might teach them that they need to try and play a little better, that they must earn the reverence of their fans, and that constantly sacking managers is not going to get them through to the final.

The bunch that have been in to watch the Euro '08 matches - and there have been a few good games this tournament, it must be said - have all been in fine spirits and have enjoyed great football, free from the pressure of having to watch their team suffer in agony, of having to burst in to tears at a missed penalty, of feeling that they must throw a nearby beanbag at the telly in temper when they're finally out of the tournament. Instead it's just been good fun.

It's the same when the rugby's on, and it'll be the same this weekend when a loyal crowd descends on my pub to support Lewis Hamilton in his bid to win his home Grand Prix, although I have to say that the sensible money might just be on a Ferrari. And the great thing is that if he loses, as it was with England's performance in the Six Nations, everyone will just simply cheer him on anyway, so 'oh well', and get on with sorting themselves out with another pint.

And we can enjoy all of that without the need to pay Sky a megafortune for the privilege and without silly little flags clipped to the door frames of cars for months after the event.

Here's hoping that England might actually manage to pull it all together for the World Cup in 2010 and go out and do something special.