SO it all ended in tears and frustration - but we weren't surprised one little bit.
Roy Hodgson asked for our patience and a spell without criticism; a tournament we would not judge him upon.
Well, he got all that - but now the honeymoon is most certainly over.
He led England through to the last 8 of Euro 2012 and he is adamant he did as well as could be expected.
After all, he was parachuted into the job with barely a month of preparation before the first match against the French.
And he had to make do without a handful of key men - Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry among them.
And he made a point of stressing both factors again and again.
Well, yes, he didn't have much time and he did have to make do without some injured stars.
But I ask you this...would Jose Mourinho have done any better in the same circumstances?
And I tell you this...of course, he would have!
Mourinho would have made England hard to beat but would also have set them up differently tactically so that we
were not as predictable, so that we were not as dull and dour, so that we would have had more of the ball and so
that we would have got the ball to the strikers more.
And I reckon Mourinho would have had the balls to have dropped Rooney for the Italy match when it was clear that
the Man United striker was unfit and off form.
Mourinho would also surely have made room in his team for the talented Phil Jones - or at least have brought him on as a sub instead of the journeyman Jordan Henderson. How England could have used Jones' wild runs from midfield to attack.
So what does all that tell us about Hodgson?
It tells us what I said before the tournament - that he is the FA's Recession England manager for a time of recession.
A steady hand who will not rock the boat; who will steer the ship off the rocks but will never have the genius or audacity to win the ultimate prizes.
While Mourinho is a tactical genius and an excellent manager of footballers, Roy is a nice guy from a different era who keeps a happy unit because he is a nice guy, a sort of genial, benign uncle figure.
Roy is also, unfortunately, a dinosaur tactically and a defensive coach rather than an offensive one.
That is why England were so good defensively but so ugly and horrible in midfield and attack.
They were outnumbered in the middle of the park and did not have the flexbility to change shape and formation because they were doing their job: working to the rigid formula of their defensive manager.
It is all very well keeping West Bromwich Albion out of the relegation zone with an all-hands on deck approach, but that same approach did not work at Liverpool who had greater ambitions and greater designs on positive play and creativity.
It is the same with England.
Roy Hodgson smothered the opposition - and his own team - and made it to the last 8 of the Euros.
If that is good enough for you, then fair enough.
But now the honeymoon is most certainly over, he needs to show an inventiveness and willingness to embrace flair and imagination that I fear he simply does not possess.
This is the man the FA have entrusted to point the way forwards for the England team and the revolution at all levels, from youth upwards, via the new multi-million pound centre of excellence that will open shortly at St George's Park in Burton-upon-Trent.
The real fear is that the man the FA have empowered to enfore the revolution is too conservative and limited - that he is indeed a dinosaur and that instead of reaching the promised land, we will end up in a cul-de-sac more appropriate to the dark ages.
If that is the case, and we struggle to beat the likes of Poland and Ukraine in our World Cup qualifiers, I hope the FA have the guts to put us all out of our misery - and show Roy the door.
Would we then get Mourinho?
No...but we could bring in Glenn Hoddle.
Yes...I know he had the job once and blew it. But that was because of some wacky view - not because of his football brain. Hoddle is tactically brilliant and 13 years wiser than back then.
He could be the answer if Roy does prove to be the problem.
FRANK WORRALL
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