Were we wrong?

Not necessarily.

Yet, my opposition to half of Europe hosting Euro 2020 was quelled when I realised I could watch games at Hampden Park in Glasgow, a city I spent many of my university days in.

When England and Scotland were provisionally drawn in the same group, it was another cause for celebration and suggested us in the United Kingdom were maybe too cynical at first.

All Group D matches would take place in the UK, the first time a major senior tournament was held in the country since Euro 96 - which fittingly, was also the last European Championship Scotland had qualified for before confirming their spot for this summer's competition.

Twelve cities hosting the competition? What's the problem?

Now, it was a massive summer party: Munich getting in a round of steins, Dublin pouring perfect pints of Guinness, Saint Petersburg offering vodka that could knock your socks off and Bilbao and Rome being offended by Glasgow's choice of wine, Buckfast.

All while Amsterdam is definitely doing something illegal.

But much like most house parties I attended in my younger years, something usually brings the night to a crashing halt.

Copenhagen has had too much to drink, London can't get a lift home, no one is willing to get a taxi with Baku because they live so far away, while Budapest and Bucharest are asleep on the couch.

What feels like has been said for the thousandth time, this halt was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the competition to be postponed by a year.

And when it was postponed, it was March 2020 - when we thought we'd be back to work in a couple of weeks.

June 2021 seemed like the perfect time to host the tournament.

Fast forward more than a year since that decision was made and society is not close to getting back to pre-pandemic times.

UEFA, who would have fancied full stadiums for the whole tournament, have conceded that this will not be possible - instead agreeing with individual cities for capacities between 20 and 50 per cent.

Instead of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium for the tie between the two oldest national teams in the world, England will play Scotland in front of just 22,500 people.

Only Budapest's Puskás Aréna with a capacity of over 67,000, looks likely to pack out the entire venue, but seemingly at the cost of lives, with Hungary having the highest death rate per capita in the world related to COVID-19.

And this is the concerning point - is hosting a football competition with spectators worth risking the lives of others? 

Ireland and the Basque Country region of Spain say no; and in turn, will no longer host matches at Euro 2020.

Although a blow to fans in the Basque region, Spain managed to hold onto their matches, moving them to Seville's Estadio La Cartuja. 

The same could not be said for Ireland, which had worked hard as an organiser to host Group E matches, only to have them snatched away.

Dublin's group matches were moved to Saint Petersburg, while its last 16 tie is now set to take place at Wembley.

Despite the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Court of Arbitration for Sport's two-year sanction on Russia hosting major sporting events, this only applies to world competitions, but not continental ones.

UEFA seems to care more about filling the stadium out than the optics or ethics of handing a Russian host any more matches on top of those already allocated to it.

However, being virtuous over Russia hosting competitions is the least of UEFA's worries - it is planning a tournament structure that is unprecedented during the pandemic.

While the Czech Republic and Croatia will cross a soft border between England and Scotland in Group D with relative ease, Poland will fly from Saint Petersburg to Seville and back to Saint Petersburg in Group E, all within just over a week.

If they make it through, they will be rewarded with another trip away from Saint Petersburg - possibly Glasgow or Copenhagen, just five days after their last group match.

This same pattern will occur for Switzerland in Group A, flying from Baku to Rome and back to Baku.

Of all the possible last 16 matches they could play, all but one of them is in Western Europe - London, Glasgow, Seville, Amsterdam and Bucharest.

If Switzerland were to play in Amsterdam in the last 16 and win their match, they would yet again return to Baku.

Most concerning of all is possible restrictions between nations.

Will UEFA be able to surpass COVID-19 testing rules for players and staff and how will squads deal with a potential outbreak?

As already eluded to, Hungary's relaxed attitude towards the pandemic could make it a hotbed for hosting matches in Budapest - can we then guarantee teams travelling between there and Munich will be safe from the virus? 

There will also be worries about testing windows - if you require a COVID-19 test to be negative 48 hours before travelling to Baku, what will stop you catching it afterwards and still causing an outbreak?

Then there are false positive tests, which have ruined many athletes' hopes of competing during the pandemic due to the rigorous protocols put in place.

Without the pandemic, UEFA could have came out of this tournament celebrating a month of fans travelling across the continent and visiting cities during the most grandiose edition in the tournament's history.

Instead, Saint Petersburg and London have nicked Dublin's drinks and Seville has turned up last minute without an invite.

A tournament you might never forget, but for all the wrong reasons.