MATT LAWTON'S EURO BLOG: Scolari's bombshell forced me to carjack a Polish sportswriter to get me to Geneva station on time

Which is fine if you're Jose Mourinho or George Clooney but something of a nightmare if, like me and according to Barnsley's Luke Steele earlier this season, you happen to look like Ashley Giles. And Ashley, old chum, I'd actually take that as a bit of an insult.

The secret is out: the news of Scolari's move to Chelsea put some grey hairs on Sportsmail's reporters

Anyway, back to the chaos. There we were at about 10pm, ready to leave the Stade de Geneve having just filed our match reports on another fine Portugal performance, when a call came in from Chelsea's director of public affairs and communications.

"Drop everything, boys," said Simon Greenberg. "We'll be making an announcement in the next five minutes."

Now the problem for those of us staying 200 miles away in Zurich was this: the train was leaving in 45 minutes and it was the last train until 6.45am the next morning.

The first thought was to stay and work and worry about a non-existent hotel room once the work had been done. But then it was decided that, given the free first-class travel courtesy of UEFA and ample power points, it would be more sensible to write on the train.

One problem, however, soon presented itself once we had ventured outside the stadium. No taxis, no buses, no trams. No way, it seemed, of getting to a railway station that was four or five miles across town.

King of Spain

Lawton

In the end, there was only one thing for it. A car pulled up at a set of nearby traffic lights, I sprinted across the road to speak to the driver and offered him 100 Swiss francs (about £50) to take us.

Too much? Well, it would have cost a lot more to stay in Geneva, had we somehow found a room. And we were desperate. Desperate to sit down at our computers and desperate to get back to our hotel.

I was actually dictating a first-edition piece for the back page to a colleague in the office when I approached the car and I only finished it once I'd introduced myself to a chap who actually turned out to be a sports writer from Poland.

What a terrific chap he was, even if it did prove to be an incredibly stressful car journey. He had no idea where to go and nor did we, which meant stopping to ask directions on at least half a dozen occasions before screeching to a halt outside the station with about three minutes to spare.

Our friend from Poland refused to take the money, but I gave him no choice. A case of throwing it on to the floor of the car, slamming the door shut and running away. "You saved our lives," I said through the window. "Have dinner on us."

We never got his name, and I only hope we see him again to thank him properly, but incidents like that do restore your faith in humanity.

Man with the message: Simon Greenberg (ringed) set the hares (and hacks) running with his press release at 10pm last night

Once on the train, it was time to get writing. Not a minute to waste. We had an hour. An hour to become experts on Scolari and produce a piece in the region of 800 words.

All the while, text messages and emails were landing. Some were more useful than others. My favourite arrived from my fiancee's dad, who had been following the Chelsea managerial search in the hope that at some point I would be able to send him down the bookies with a hot tip.

"We missed out on Scolari, Matt," said my favourite future father-in-law.

Sorry Frankie. I've been a bit busy. But had you actually bought the Daily Mail two days ago ...