All he wanted to do was hide, having left English football a laughing stock once again.

But instead of digging in his heels all he could do was have one last word before stamping his feet on the gravel path outside the media centre in Chantilly.

Twice he was asked to face the music and explain how it all went wrong at Euro 2016 and twice he said ‘no' until changing his mind at the third time of asking. It was one of the few decisions he got right.

He said: "I don't know why I'm here to be honest. I'm no longer the England manager. But one game has caused a lot of damage to me personally.

"I suppose someone has to take the slings and arrows that come with it."

It was a pitiful and fitting end to a reign of stupendous failure that left more questions than answers and people across the land wondering how in God's name it all came to this.

Those same people might not be surprised to learn that the ineptitude of those running the England camp is just as bad off the pitch as it is on it.

Something happens to England at major tournaments that turns the whole Three Lions roadshow into a mobile mad house.

Those carers in white coats are replaced by people in sharp blue suits, while the main patients, when not practicing their football, are given darts, pool cues and table tennis bats to help keep them occupied.

But when asked what goes on in the games room, no-one is allowed to talk about it, while the FA insisted no-one could work at the luxury team hotel in Chantilly unless they had 12 months experience.

In the meantime, instead of going to scout Iceland ahead of a game that would decide his future, Hodgson decided to take a stroll around Notre Dame in Paris then hop on a boat trip down the River Seine.

Insane more like.

Hodgson revealed his wife would be ‘coming out for the quarter-finals'. No she won't mate.

He decided to make six changes for the crucial Group B game against Slovakia, including dropping captain, talisman and his most influential player Wayne Rooney.

But instead of showing Rooney the respect he deserved, England's record scorer only discovered his fate when Hodgson read out the starting XI and he was said to be left ‘open mouthed'.

Concerned yet? You should be, but it gets worse.

Some of the FA staff were not even allowed to eat with the players, while the team's mascot ‘Kit the Lion' had it's own accreditation.

Harry Kane, the Premier League's Golden Boot winner last season, was ordered to take the corners. That was until Rooney decided common sense should prevail in the opening exchanges with Wales and defied Hodgson by taking them himself.

Hodgson stormed into his technical area, but there was nothing he could do to stop the first signs of mutiny.

England bosses went to extraordinary lengths to keep their training sessions secret. Armed police on foot and horseback patrolled the training ground in Chantilly while drone hovered above the trees.

Yet despite all this Hodgson's starting XI for all four games was known long before kick off. It drove Gary Neville absolutely mad.

The irony is, of course, that Hodgson's tactics proved hopelessly flawed and predictable - so what is the point in being so protective in the first place?

Hodgson has indulged his players, never more so than when he allowed Jamie Vardy time off to get married in the build-up to the tournament. Ridiculous.

Yet he has also bored them with repetitive training drills they considered old school before leaving them to face the flak when it all went wrong.

In the stiflingly hot bowels of the Stade de Nice it was left to Rooney and Joe Hart to come out and face the the world's media.

Hart deserves some credit for this, not least because he was still in shock at what had just happened to cap a miserable tournament for him personally that will give him nightmares for the rest of his life.

He struggled to find the words and took more than 30 seconds to answer one simple question. He did his best but his mind was gone.

That's because he knew, like we all did, that what happened in Nice on Monday night will be a permanent scar on the careers of all those who played. For some it could even define them as footballers.

Welcome to the circus that is Team England, where the ringmaster called the shots but his Lions just couldn't dance to his tune.