The Anonymous Widower

Just Like 1966

I was 18 in 1966 and can remember watching England’s first match in the World Cup, where they playing a boring goalless draw with Uruguay.

I think it is true to say, that we weren’t too hopeful of winning in 1966 and if my memory serves me right, I think we did.

So last night and this morning, all of those on the phones-in, who thought England were rubbish, should shut up until at least the last match of the group stages of Euro-2012.

There weren’t phones-in in 1966, and I suspect after the first match, England supporters would have been totally despondent. Much worse than today.

Everybody now thinks of Sir Alf now, as the Messiah, but before the 1966 World Cup, all he’d done was the equivalent of take a Third Division side to the Premier League title in a space of five years. Try doing that these days with a team, without any stars. I suppose to be fair, England were in as  bad a state at the start of the 1960s as Ipswich were when he took over as manager. A lot of people thought he was the wrong choice and probably hoped he’d fail.

In fact he had one great advantage in 1966 over Roy Hodgson today.  He had at least had time to plan what he did.  And plan he did! He even made sure that England had the lightest possible kit, so they would have more energy.

Ramsey incidentally had three years, whereas Hodgson had three weeks.

June 12, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | England, Euro-2012, Football, World Cup