‘Emotionally, it was very difficult’: Colin Bell couldn’t watch Ireland after abrupt exit

Colin Bell regrets his Republic of Ireland exit: "It all finished for me much too quickly."

Colin Bell regrets his Ireland exit. ‘It all finished for me much too quickly,’ he says.

Every time Colin Bell sees or hears of football teams in a period of progression, he cannot avoid retrospectively applying it to his spell in Ireland.

The last Englishman to manage a Champions League-winning side — that being the women’s version for Frankfurt in 2015 — will on Tuesday lead his South Korea into battle with China for a place at the Tokyo Olympics.