English football went back to the Ice Age in one of our darkest sporting moments

ENGLISH football went back to the Ice Age tonight.

By Jeremy Cross, Chief Sports Writer

OUT: Hodgson has left his post

In one of the most beautiful cities in France, Roy Hodgson and his millionaire flops turned a football match into one of the ugliest and darkest moments in our sporting history.

The Three Lions achieved the impossible and made the state of the nation even worse.

England lost to Iceland at Euro 2016 to exit Europe for the second time in a week and leave Hodgson’s international future in the deep freeze.

It remains to be seen if Hodgson and his humiliated flops are allowed back in the country following the seismic events of the last 48 hours back home.

But if their passports are still valid then these pampered, over-paid and over-rated footballers should be sent to the other Iceland and force-fed turkey twizzlers for a week.

The truth is there is no punishment painful enough to inflict on those responsible for what is probably the biggest humiliation we have endured.

Losing to America in the group stages of the 1950 World Cup in Brazil was bad.

As was the time in Port of Spain in 1994 when the West Indies bowled out the English cricket team for just 46 runs.

But this astonishing failure was in a different league and the scenes at the end in the Stade de Nice will never be forgotten.

It was a life changing moment for the victorious Icelandic players. They come from a land where there are more volcanos than professional footballers.

In fact, there are more professional volcano watchers than footballers. It is almost impossible to put the merits of their achievement into context.

There will be a national holiday back in the Nordic island now and it is fully deserved. Lars Lagerback’s side were magnificent from start to finish.

Back home, it will be a national day of mourning like no other and so it should be, because Hodgson and his players should feel ashamed of themselves.

The game ended in utter farce and left Hodgson with no choice but to do the honourable thing and quit minutes after the final whistle.

He headed down the tunnel faster than Lewis Hamilton in fifth gear to leave his players to face the furious wrath of the fans. Up in the stands FA bosses stood in their posh suits shaking their heads in total disbelief.

Hodgson is a decent, honourable man, but this wouldn’t have even come close to sparing him from the guillotine. Him and his side made our politicians look useful.

He made a series of unfathomable decisions during the tournament.

Harry Kane, the Premier League’s golden boot winner, took the set pieces.

Hodgson made six changes against Slovakia, when the goalless draw cost us the chance to win Group B and had dire consequences.

The only shock was England didn’t have to wait until facing France in Sunday’s quarter-final to book their return flights home.

Instead it was Iceland who delivered the fatal blow in a game that ended with England resembling the ‘Dog & Duck’ and having the rise taken out of them by a side with more passion and ability to handle pressure.

The inquest will now begin but what’s the point?

We’ve held them countless times before but still no-one can provide an answer as to why a nation with obvious talent cannot deliver when it matters most.

We’ve lost to Iceland before - in the battle over fishing rights in the North Atlantic.

But this defeat goes much deeper. Cod help us.