You spent hours agonising over FMT and IMT on the Uefa website as you made your ticket applications for the Euro 2008 finals, and what did it add up to? AAAAGH. The competition’s slogan is “Expect emotions” – you just didn’t think they would be anger and frustration.

The good news for the thousands of England fans who applied for FMTs – Follow My Team tickets – is that they haven’t lost any money now that there is no team to follow. Their applications will simply go the way of Steve McClaren’s contract. However, if you were one of the 417,885 people across the world who requested an IMT – Individual Match Ticket in Uefa-speak – and you succeeded in the ballot, then the governing body already has your cash. You thought you were so lucky when Uefa’s good-news e-mail arrived in your inbox in April. Ha! As we all know, a tournament without England is less of a tournament. Basically worthless, in fact.

Uefa would not reveal exactly how many England fans hold tickets for next summer’s Three Lions-free zone, but said that 2 per cent of IMTs have gone to England fans. All they can do is sit and wait for the draw to see who they will be watching.

When they picked a date and stadium and clicked “apply” on Uefa.com in March, they dreamt of England. They are now facing the prospect of Romania versus Turkey in Klagenfurt.

Expert View

The faults that lie deep within the nation's football will not be cured simply by handing Steve McClaren his P45

Martin Samuel

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BACKGROUND

• O’Neill rules himself out of running

• Same old routine for Barwick and Co

• £2.5m for worst English manager

• English game paralysed by fear of the unknown

BACKGROUND

• The contenders

• Defeat puts paid to hopes of £2bn bonanza

• McClaren's epitaph: ‘Worse than Graham Taylor’

• Former coach faces fight to rebuild reputation

BACKGROUND

• From 1 to 11: why number was up for England

• Beckham is the blueprint by which to rebuild national game

• Talisman expects backlash but is not retiring

• Carson hoping to bounce back

BACKGROUND

• Wembley authorities unable to explain quagmire

• England were a shower but I’d do it all again

• Time to support the other red and whites

• England got what they deserved, says Corluka

BACKGROUND

• England among also-rans in World Cup seedings

• Players’ egos responsible for failure, says Keane

• Own Goal

Multimedia

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• England's ten lowest moments ever

• England fans: let off steam here

Joe Cole was willing to buy Tal Ben-Haim a holiday, but he won’t be giving you a refund, so what to do? Travel to Austria and Switzerland next summer and make the best of it amid the cheerful Croats and revelling Russians? Or try to flog your tickets?

While other fans don’t travel in the same numbers as the English, there will still be huge demand because the ticket ballot was heavily oversubscribed and the stadiums are small, resulting in low allocations for fans who buy tickets from their national associations.

Of course, ticket touting is forbidden under Uefa rules, though it is easy enough over the internet. A plethora of websites are already offering tickets. Brokers purchase unwanted tickets from punters then resell them at prices as overinflated as the England team’s reputation. Whether you trust these unofficial outlets is up to you. One website claims that the finals are taking place in “Swaziland”.

“You can resell tickets for the same price you bought them, but you have to know who’s buying them,” a Uefa spokesperson said. “You’re not allowed to sell them to unknown people on the internet.” Time to make some foreign friends, then. Here’s a handy hint: the Eurostar terminal at St Pan-cras is a good place to meet French people. Alternatively, why not combine the chance to make a point to the FA with a yuletide tradition. Tickets roasting on an open fire outside Soho Square, anyone?