Daniel Wales speaks to semi-retired reporter, Norman Bartlam in Berlin, following England’s loss against Spain in the final of Euro 2024.
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00:00A night that promised so much for England, in the end delivered so little. For the second
00:07European Championship final in succession, the Three Lions had to settle for second place.
00:14Earlier on in Berlin, the English mood was quietly optimistic. England were underdogs
00:19but knew that they could spring a surprise. Back at home, televisions and big screens
00:25around the country were being eagerly watched in both hope and expectation, but all the
00:30years of hurt about to end. And yet, after the curtain came down, it was English despondency
00:35once again. In Berlin was semi-retired reporter Norman Bartlem, who I can speak to now. Norman,
00:43how do you reflect on the final and the whole tournament?
00:46It was a very disappointing night, but overall, it's obviously despondent, but not quite euphorical
00:53I wouldn't say, but we're a little bit happier than we thought we would be if we would lose,
00:58because we did play well and we improved as the tournament went on. It was very slow Diplodocus
01:03like at the beginning, wasn't it? And there was a bit of resentment in the crowds in the
01:08early games, but something just seemed to switch and click. And then as the tournament
01:13got on, England got better and better. And we were just unfortunate to come up against
01:18Spain, I suppose. They're obviously the best side in a tournament, just because they've
01:23won it. But it was obviously their class was showing through for that, wasn't it? So it's
01:27no disgrace, really, to lose against Spain.
01:33After their equaliser, did England fail to capitalise on the moment?
01:37Yeah, well, we've all been saying that. It made a couple of substitutions, didn't it?
01:42It brought on Palmer and Watkins, which were wonderful, but it didn't bing on Tony until
01:46about two or three minutes from the end, if we'd have done that a little bit earlier.
01:50And that's typical Gareth Southgate type of tactics, isn't it? Just not brave enough.
01:56Just one small step forward would have made all the difference there.
02:03So you'd say Gareth Southgate wasn't brave enough to go and win the match?
02:07I think people have always said that about him, haven't they? And he's not going to change, is he?
02:14And how have the Spanish reacted to their triumph in Germany?
02:17Well, we've already seen the Spaniard. I think they've gone off to have the tapas a little
02:23bit early, I think. They're not out celebrating at all. They were outnumbered in the stadium
02:28last night. And the Spanish don't tend to do flags anyway, so the whole stadium was
02:33just full of the English flags. And even around town, there were very few Spanish folks. We've
02:39been into town this morning, down by the Brandenburg Gate, and there's a few England
02:44fans around, obviously, but not too many. We thought we'd see lots of Spaniards, but
02:48there's hardly any of them. In fact, there's more Argentinians at the Brandenburg Gate
02:52than there is Spain, because I think they've just won a cup at America or something, haven't
02:55they, overnight?