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Vienna/Klagenfurt

As we approach the end of our first week in Austria, I finally have a few minutes to reflect on our experiences to far.

Actually, I have more than a few minutes, seeing as it's a four-hour journey south-west from our base in Vienna to our home for the next week near Klagenfurt.

I'm sitting in the middle row of the van with our fixer/driver/sound man Markus, who's skilfully negotiating the autobahn, producer Séan alongside him, while cameraman Jon and editing genius Nick are in the back with me. Are we nearly there yet? Far from it...

It's fair to say that the trip didn't get off to the most promising start for me personally, as a particularly sickly vanilla latté left me feeling more than a little queezy on the plane. (I won't go into details, suffice to say I wasn't very well...)

On departure from Heathrow, , but after waiting by the luggage carousel in Vienna for over an hour, all became clear.

It turned out that out that our suitcases were enjoying Terminal 5's brand new facilities so much that they wanted to stay behind a little longer. Twenty-four smelly hours later we enjoyed an emotional reunion with our clothes. The joy on cameraman Jon's face when he saw his Speedos again was truly heart-warming.

Clad in crisp, fresh clothing we were ready to get down to business, and for the next few days we were on Croatia duty.

The squad is based in the spa village of in the east of the country near the Hungarian border and only a couple of hours' drive from Croatia. The players probably feel quite at home there. The Croatian community in the area has its origins in the Turkish invasion a few hundred years ago.

Having watched several hours of training in the pouring rain and sat through two press conferences (the first of which was badly organised - no translator, for example), our main aim was to secure a one-to-one interview with team boss Slaven Bilic, formerly of West Ham and Everton fame.

After the first press conference, our request was turned down (not by Bilic, who was happy to talk to us, but by Davor the press officer who understandably feared being lynched by the Croatian media who had also been denied individual interviews).

After the second press conference, our luck was in. As his driver tried to close the car door, Bilic put his arm in the way and shouted to Davor. My Croatian's not so hot but it appeared that Bilic was signalling his intent to make the interview happen. Poor Davor. He really wanted to refuse our request and enjoy a quiet life, but instead sighed heavily and agreed to "two minutes".

As I sat down to talk with the engaging Mr Bilic, producer Séan felt the wrath of the exasperated Davor, who spluttered: "I can see the headline in Croatia tomorrow - Bilic says '**** Croatia, I only do ±«Óãtv!'." Not Davor's fault that Bilic was willing to speak.

Bilic went on to offer an intelligent insight into his thoughts approaching the start of the tournament. The man who masterminded Croatia's qualification success and England's ultimate failure is quite a character. He speaks four languages and is a qualified lawyer - perfectly standard football manager so far, you may think, but read on - and also wrote the national team's Euro 2008 song. Not only that, he also played guitar on it with his rock band !

Bearing in mind he's partly responsible for the fact that England aren't here, I may have been within my rights to harbour negative thoughts about this chap, but they soon disappeared after a few minutes in his company.

Even though Bilic has signed a new two-year deal to remain in charge of Croatia, should he continue his success here in Austria, it would surely not be long before an . And if the reports are true that Bilic earns only a relatively paltry £80,000 a year (double his previous salary), that offer may prove irresistible. Davor and his countrymen may not thank me for saying so, but what a colourful and welcome addition to English football Bilic would be.