Behind the scenes of the mixed zone melee

If you pick up a paper today, you will doubtlessly see a Euro 2012 player “slamming”, “insisting” or “declaring”. And, when these quotes appear, the impression is often that they’re given in relaxed, glamorous confines.

To be fair, that will probably be the case today when, under Uefa’s strict orders, the Irish manager and at least one player must take their seat at the top of an ample press conference.

But it certainly hasn’t been the case for most of the last few days.