EUROS SURE TO BE BORE

AFTER suffering two years of fixtures such as Estonia v San Marino and Scotland v anyone, I’ve just discovered it will take 75 per cent of the games at next summer’s 24-team Euros to eliminate just seven nations plus England.

It’s such a long, drawn-out, and probably draw-heavy, tournament Scots should be delighted their team isn’t in it, though not as delighted as the rest of us.

You can understand UEFA’s thinking: the Europa League has worked so well, let’s copy the format for the European Championship.

Scots will still descend on France next summer, but mercifully will slink away as soon as Andy Murray (below) exits the French Open. Wales are there for once, Roy Hodgson (top) and Englan England are there for the group stages, a and Northern Ireland are there f for comic relief.

They could be j joined by Martin O O’Neill (below, left) and the Republic, w who are in a play-off. I knew t there must be a reason why I Ireland are 6-5 to qu qualify and I found it – t their play-off opponents are BosniaHerzegovina, Sweden, Hungary or Ukraine.

Wales are 14-1 with Hills to be BBC Sports Personality team of the year. Favourites (4-9) are the GB Davis Cup team.

REMEMBER when you could still refer to your knees as right and left instead of good and bad? Get on Gilles Simon at 13-8 to beat Tomas Berdych in the Shanghai tennis today.