For more than 20 years, the summer of ’96 was as good as it got for England. Not purely in terms of a tournament finish – Sir Bobby Robson had inspired a semi-final appearance just six years prior – but for how supporting your country is supposed to feel. Here was a team, lampooned by the press leading up to the finals and facing selection questions all across the pitch, delivering some of the most memorable results in the nation’s history.
With Baddiel and Skinner’s quasi-national still soundtracking the dizzying highs of England’s new era of consistent major tournament progress, it’s often forgotten that it was originally released when expectations were at their lowest: ranked 17th in Europe, absent from USA 94, and that infamous trip to Hong Kong seeing the squad splashed across front pages and branded a disgrace. Under most managers, it would have equalled a recipe for disaster.
