At the end of last season, West Ham had a managerial conundrum, one that divided the board room and the fanbase. Should they punt David Moyes – a man who brought silverware back to the club for the first time in 43 years – out of a east London door marked ‘Sod Off’, or keep him, despite another underwhelming season where the Scot’s own brand of stodgy pragmatism hadn’t quite hit the ideals of the so-called Academy of Football. The Hammers chose the former, replacing Moyes with a Spaniard with ideas, and Moyes left as a well-liked, well-respected manager, who everyone can pretty much agree had both flaws and success. We’ll find out soon enough if West Ham’s decision to appoint Julen Lopetegui was a good one, or whether, in a few months from now, Moyes will appear as a guest on Monday Night Football, gleefully whistling Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi down the barrel of a camera.

All of which is a rather clumsy way of explaining that we don’t really know what this England team is capable of, without Gareth Southgate, but the overwhelming feeling is: a lot more. Stating the bleeding obvious, but Spain were deserved winners of Sunday’s final and the best team at this tournament by a stretch. They won every match, beating Croatia, Italy, Albania, Georgia, hosts Germany, France and England en route to glory, despite losing Pedri, Gavi and eventually Rodri to injury. On paper Spain were there for the taking after their talisman’s half-time withdrawal and later, after England’s shock equaliser, but in both instances after somehow gaining an advantage, England ceded ground. It was notable to see that after Cole Palmer dragged Southgate’s side back into the game, rather than go for the jugular and keep momentum, the England manager was seen prepping Conor Gallagher and Kieran Trippier to come on as subs, shortly before Spain scored their winner.

For England fans, this was another feeble and familiar night, bookmarked by their pantomime villain of 2021, Giorgio Chiellini, who brought the Henri Delaunay Trophy out on to the pitch for the pre-match anthems with a ominous and knowing grin, and ended the evening with a devastating post-match quote: “It takes me back, seeing the English so enthusiastic and happy, remembering how quickly their mood can change”, beamed the Italian. “This is the history of the Ingerland”, he didn’t add, but perhaps could have.

By the time the 2026 World Cup rolls around, it will be 60 years since England’s last male major tournament win: the same amount of time will separate us from Baddiel and Skinner in 1996 to what separated them from the boys of 1966. Just as with Moyes, there are very persuasive reasons for ditching Southgate just as there are credible reasons for keeping Southgate, from his qualifying and tournament record to a lack of alternatives. If only there was someone out of a job that understood how to play free-flowing attacking football, understood the English psyche and floated almost exclusively on pure vibes. Ah, well.

The start of the second half was a Shakespearean tragedy. England, incapable of anything, yielded before a superior Spain and only some unwise Spanish decisions avoided a hammering. The injury suffered by Spain’s helmsman, Rodri, made little difference: the Premier [League] stars found themselves kneeling before a Spanish generation that is afraid of nothing” – Spanish daily El Mundo gets stuck into England’s performance. For more excitable press reaction from Spain have a gander at Sam Jones’s roundup here.

As England lost against the first good team we came up against (yet again), presumably now all the bandwagon jumping wannabes in Boxparks who don’t actually like football and only bothered watching England games from the semi-final onwards, wearing brand new retro England shirts from 1982, 1990 or 1996 and throwing £10 pints in the air performatively, can now slink off so football can return to those of us who actually bother to watch it season in, season out. I’m not sure what we’ll do without them though. It’s like the Beatles without Yoko Ono (not that I’m bitter)“ – Noble Francis.

Disappointed Nacho didn’t start. I had a bet on him or Rice being the first player named after a carbohydrate-based snack to score in a final since Bryan Breadsticks in 1962” – Paul Griffin.

This is something I really have a problem with. Why is it 58 years of hurt? The first tournament after England won the World Cup was in 1968 so surely the clock didn’t start until then, therefore it’s only 56 years of hurt. If I’m wrong and England had beaten Spain would we now be on one day of hurt?” – Alistair Moffat.

So, there were six winners of the ‘Euro’s Golden Boot’ award. Uefa missed a great opportunity to provide some extra excitement to the event … a penalty shootout among the six to decide the true Golden Boot winner” – Mike Haines.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Mike Haines. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

History is written by the victors and on this occasion that person is Dan Thomas who has commemorated England’s Euros triumph with a tattoo of the trophy, accompanied by the words ‘ENGLAND EURO 2024 WINNERS’. Whatever the history books might claim for years to come, the truth will be on Thomas’s leg for all to see. Spain might have scored more goals and been the better team but that does not matter to Thomas.

“We came close, I don’t regret the tattoo,” the data consultant parped. “If anything, I don’t think it’d be hard to change the four into an eight in four years’ time. I won’t be covering it up. Absolutely no regrets and I still love it.” Thomas’ friend Jack Wilkinson, who inked the tattoo, says the 29-year-old is “Mr Positive” having had the work carried out on Thursday, three days before the match. “Mr Delusional” might be more appropriate but we all have to admire that optimistic English spirit, thinking that the Three Lions, having struggled to the final, would beat clearly the best team in the tournament. We are sure he will be getting that four updated to an eight next time.

Naturally, Gareth Southgate’s future is a big topic of discussion but the England boss says “now is not the time” to talk about it. “I’m going to talk to the right people and, yeah, it’s just not for now,” he said.

Southgate’s predecessor Big Sam Allardyce reckons it might be time for the gaffer to head into the sunset with a pint of wine. “The one thing Gareth has to think of is [he’s been manager for] eight years,” Allardyce told ITV. “Who was the last England manager to last longer than eight years? It’s a long time to soak up the pressure.”

Jude Bellingham has said the “crazy” fixture calendar meant he was mentally and physically exhausted at the tournament. “We all wanted nothing more than to make history and to make the people of England proud and we didn’t quite deliver”, he sobbed.

There were a few happier voices in the Spain dressing room. “This is probably the best day of my career,” cheered Rodri. “We are European champions, as difficult as that is. We have become Europe’s most successful national team.”

And a whopping 23.8m people (assuming they were all England fans) had a disappointing Sunday night, the highest combined TV audience for the year. As is tradition, the majority (17.8m) watched on BBC while another six million tuned into ITV. The figures will increase when streaming figures are added to the data at a later date. It should be noted that 692,000 watched Love Island on ITV2 instead.

Argentina beat Colombia in the Copa América final thanks to an extra-time winner from Lautaro Martínez but there were problems getting in as security gates were breached. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi limped out with ankle-knack.

There is transfer business galore at Manchester United. Joshua Zirkzee arrived on a five-year deal on Sunday and they sold defender Willy Kambwala to Villarreal on Monday. The Spanish side could end up paying €11.5m for the centre-back who made 10 appearances for the Red Devils.

Thomas Müller has called quits on his international career after 131 caps and 45 goals, plus a World Cup winner’s medal, his final appearance coming in the quarter-final defeat to eventual winners Spain. “Time to say goodbye,” wept Müller. “It always made me very proud to play for my country. We celebrated together and sometimes shed a tear together.”

And it was all happening at Stirling Albion v Raith Rovers over the weekend.

Yep, Spain has a new golden generation, writes Sid Lowe. Regrets, England had a few, says Barney Ronay.

Maybe if Gareth Southgate’s boys had a proper plan, it could have been all so different. Jonathan Liew on the team’s flaws. One obvious problem was Harry Kane’s lack of energy up top, as Nick Ames explains.

England got to the final thanks to individual moments of quality, something Dani Olmo denied them in Berlin, pens Rob Draper.

Philip Cornwall is tournament mad and here to tell you all about his eventful journey from Paris to Berlin, presumably while listening to Infernal’s 2004 hit of the same name.

Who shone and who flopped? Jacob Steinberg rates England’s players over the tournament, while Rob Draper issues his own player ratings for Sunday’s final.

And what a night it was in Madrid.

There’s even a big ol’ photo gallery of the best images from the final and another whopping gallery on the best pics from the tournament, you lucky things.

And let us know what you made of the Euros here.

24 July 1999: Thousands of people in Lisbon get in position to create the logo for Euro 2004 after Portugal was named as the host nation for the tournament.