Cris Freddi offers his view on England's chance of success at Euro '96
Definitely the short straw, this. With most of the other countries, you can come to a fairly quick conclusion (e.g. Scotland: no great players, good team spirit, might make the quarters), but the England waters are unusually muddy. Your one consolation is that no-one’s much wiser than you are.
The FA's isn't the only organising commitee going into overdrive as Euro '96 approaches, as Philip Cornwall reports
Admirable though their attempts are, Glenn and Terry are not the only ones trying to bring English football closer to the rest of Europe. It is crucial that this summer as much is done to improve the English game’s image off the pitch as on it.
Dave Hill, the author of England's Glory: 1966 And All That, addresses some of the misconceptions that have developed around England's finest hour
Anyone with a healthy suspicion of nostalgia and a wholesome dislike for chest-beating patriots can be forgiven for feeling cynical about England’s triumph in the 1966 World Cup. After all, if you delve beneath the standard memories of the final against West Germany, of Kenneth Wolstenholme saying what Kenneth Wolstenholme said as Geoff Hurst completed his hat-trick, of Bobby Moore wiping his hands on his shorts before shaking hands with a laughing Liz Windsor, and of Nobby Stiles’ woodentops war dance during the lap of honour, what are the unvarnished facts?
The FA took their time didn't they? And even then Howard WIlkinson and Frank Clark were on standby. What a caper
The next couple of months will be an interesting time for Glenn Hoddle and Terry Venables, as they edge towards a handover date.
The media's double standards are plain to see in the build-up to Euro '96
So, let’s see if we’ve got this right. Geoff Hurst scored a hat trick in the 1966 World Cup Final (though some spoilsports still mutter darkly, in German, about his second goal). After the match the ball was spirited away to Germany by Helmut Haller, who had scored the opening goal. Geoff himself doesn’t seem to have been unduly bothered about getting his ball back until roughly a month ago when he endorsed rescue missions by the Sun and the Mirror, the latter able to make the Hallers the best offer (all money to charity, of course) after receiving help from Eurostar and the ubiquitous Richard Branson.