As he was being given his player of the tournament award, Andres Iniesta admitted: "We'll go on trying to win trophies without really coming to terms with the greatness of this achievement." It was a phrase uttered late on Sunday night.

Spain's thrilling victory and the place in history for a treble of Euro-World Cup-Euro had barely sunk in and Iniesta is inherently modest.

But we can help him. We can start a campaign to educate the dolts who think Spain have become boring, we can make sure that people appreciate that this isn't just statistically the greatest side ever but that 2008-2012 should be recognised as the absolute golden era of world football.

Iniesta's point is that he's less than comfortable with the deluge of praise. He, Xavi and Carles Puyol often use the phrase at Barcelona, "praise makes you complacent". But they merit it.

It's not just the case that nobody has achieved this tournament high watermark before and any intelligent football lover must be open to the idea that perhaps there have been individual triumphs by teams which measure more highly on the pound-for-pound scale which will have to suffice as football's Duckworth Lewis method. For example, Brazil in 1970, perhaps Argentina in 1986, even the Brazil of 1958 or 1962.

However, if these are Spain's benchmarks, then consider the fact that by 1974 Brazil were a bunch of lumbering, thuggish football hooligans who brought disgrace to the World Cup in Germany.

Argentina, in 1990, were petulant, slow and participated in one of the dreariest matches ever to grace the final of a major tournament when losing 1-0 to Germany.

Whether this version of Spain is as thrilling as in 2008 is barely the point. Just take a second to think that manager Vicente Del Bosque had to achieve something never done before and without Spain's all-time leading scorer, with a limited contribution from their one-time most reliable leader of the line in Fernando Torres and after a season when some of their major players were exhausted after more than 5000 club minutes.

It's a remarkable achievement, and when you add that Spain have now avoided conceding a goal in 10 knockout matches dating back to 2006, plus they have unearthed an absolute gem of an international left-back in Jordi Alba, then you begin to register the scale of Del Bosque's achievement.

He, naturally, wants to pass the credit to his squad. "I think it's very difficult to be champions once, twice is a lot more difficult, and three times is brilliant. I think that these guys have made an extraordinary effort and they have to be congratulated," he said before Spain's colourful parade through the streets of Madrid.

Which takes us to the faddish fools who think that Spain are boring.

Theirs is not the only way to play, and nobody is obliged to admire them. But a failure to recognise that having to play without a panther of a striker like David Villa is an enormous handicap means that some of Spain's critics don't know what they are talking about.

Anyone who does not accept that it is the ambition-free opponents who turn Spain's games into a slow chess game needs to stop watching football. Now.

The distance between a tired, striker-free Spain and the rest of the world has proved to be enormous.

Had La Roja's players been fresh and at the top of their game with Villa, Torres, or both, in the front line then there would have been a technical knockout around about the quarter-final stage and the trophy could have been sent back to Madrid there and then

Just like when Bjorn Borg, Martina Navratilova, Tiger Woods, Steve Davis or Michael Schumacher dominated their respective sports in a metronomic manner there are bound to be those who simply want a change. Fine. But there isn't a country in the world which could not benefit from the technical brilliance which Spain possess in abundance.

What troubles me more than anything is that the "Spain are boring" garbage seems to be coming predominantly from the UK, where the national teams either can't qualify for tournaments or, as in the case of England, can't compete when they get there.

What we desperately need is our kids in Scotland, girls and boys, growing up with the gritty determination to mimic Xavi's passing, Iniesta's control of the ball when at speed, Gerard Pique's towering elegance on the ball or Iker Casillas' complete dedication to winning.

England are tired of relying on players like Emile Heskey and yearn for more like Jack Wilshire. We had an era when our footballers were of the dimensions of Fabregas and Alba but could play. Really play.

Football grounds are safer, football is stunningly attractive to advertisers because we still crave it in vast numbers – football is utterly great.

Yet attendances in Scotland are dropping, kids don't play in parks any more and we are shorn of the kind of guys who used to be able to get you up out of your seat in astonishment about what they could do with a ball.

Spain have them. We need to copy them.

This tournament and how Del Bosque's side made history was no surprise to those of us who follow them closely – I was 100% certain Spain would win from long before things kicked off in Poland/Ukraine.

What I'm not certain about is how closely we are paying attention, how much we appreciate that this is a golden era to be venerated. Not sure how many kids out there want to be the next Andres Iniesta.

Please tell me I'm wrong.