Wales better than England

[ozzie owl]

I think leaving Greaves out was more down to not wanting to change the chemistry of a winning team.

Which is what Hodgson failed to do. Mind you few other England managers guilty of the same, when they always had to Gerrard and Lampard and this forcing plyers like Scholes and Joe Cole intot he wife left position.

Now Managers are being blamed for breaking up marriages

The old auto correct trick lol .

[God is an Englishman]

No, no, no, aussie owl wouldn't do that. Heaven forbid, he's too well balanced, he's got a chip on BOTH shoulders.

Yes all well with England national side and the Euro 2016 was all bad luck was it ?

Tell us all your balanced review of the England team at the Euro 2016 ?

When did Roy change a winning side?

[Kosta Utd]

so what have england won in the last 50?

Nothing, unless of course you count THE WORLD CUP.

ok sorry my bad.. in the last 49?

might as well round it up to 50..

while were at it might as well get it over with and add another 50

[God is an Englishman]

so what have england won in the last 50?

Nothing, unless of course you count THE WORLD CUP.

ok sorry my bad.. in the last 49?

might as well round it up to 50..

while were at it might as well get it over with and add another 50

So, in the last 50 (your timeline) we've won the world cup. NEXT!

[Kosta Utd]

if it makes you happy.. in the last 49 you won nothing (i will revisit this in a couple of weeks to update) and appears this trend is set to continue into the foreseeable future

[God is an Englishman]

if it makes you happy.. in the last 49 you won nothing (i will revisit this in a couple of weeks to update) and appears this trend is set to continue into the foreseeable future

As long as you are seeing your mistake, I'm fine with that.

[Delete Your Account]

if it makes you happy.. in the last 49 you won nothing (i will revisit this in a couple of weeks to update) and appears this trend is set to continue into the foreseeable future

49 years and 354 days.

[Kosta Utd]

if it makes you happy.. in the last 49 you won nothing (i will revisit this in a couple of weeks to update) and appears this trend is set to continue into the foreseeable future

As long as you are seeing your mistake, I'm fine with that.

dont let a mere technicality take you away from the fact that Wales >>> England

[God is an Englishman]

if it makes you happy.. in the last 49 you won nothing (i will revisit this in a couple of weeks to update) and appears this trend is set to continue into the foreseeable future

As long as you are seeing your mistake, I'm fine with that.

dont let a mere technicality take you away from the fact that Wales >>> England

You being wrong isn't a technicality.

Wales lost 2 games, England only 1.

[Shibasaki Kō]

How many wins did each nation pickup?

[Juventino]

You being wrong isn't a technicality.

Wales lost 2 games, England only 1.

You can lose more games and have a better tournament. Which is determined by your finishing position.

[God is an Englishman]

You being wrong isn't a technicality.

Wales lost 2 games, England only 1.

You can lose more games and have a better tournament. Which is determined by your finishing position.

Unless you win, you might as well go out in the group stages.

[Juventino]

I suppose after 49 years and however many days of rubbish, you start to get pessimistic about these things.

[God is an Englishman]

I suppose after 49 years and however many days of rubbish, you start to get pessimistic about these things.

Don't see how a statement of fact is pessimistic.

[Juventino]

I hope the English stop getting nostalgic about Euro '96 in that case.

[God is an Englishman]

I hope the English stop getting nostalgic about Euro '96 in that case.

Who gets nostalgic about it?

The only good thing was that it was at the home of football. Some good parties were had during that time. I got kicked out of a pub for celebrating the Netherland's goal when we beat them 4-1, apparently the scottish didn't like it

[Juventino]

I saw so many articles gushing over the tournament over the past few months, even though the football played was pretty average. Worse than what we saw this year.

[God is an Englishman]

I saw so many articles gushing over the tournament over the past few months, even though the football played was pretty average. Worse than what we saw this year.

Best Euro's tournament I can remember, atmosphere was superb.

[Shibasaki Kō]

My favorite was 1992. Mind you, the 2-2 draw between Sweden and Denmark a few tournaments ago was also pretty special.

[MegaBonus]

i must have read the same article Juventino....

England winners at nostalgia but we should not believe the Euro 96 hype

Euro 2000 was far more exciting than its predecessor, when the country seemed to be mired in a collective psychosis centred around Cool Britannia

The images remain as clear as crystal, even with 20 years’ distance. Teddy Sheringham floats a crossfield ball, which hangs above Wembley like a drone before dropping on Alan Shearer’s right boot. The intended shot bobbles towards the six-yard box, evading Andreas Köpke’s fingertips. Paul Gascoigne charges, stretches, connects. Hands go up. Mouths scream. But while his legs end up scissored in the net, the ball evades his outstretched boot. Arms flop. Hopes sink. Soon afterwards comes the familiar conclusion: England lose on penalties to Germany again.

As a sun-blushed Terry Venables told the BBC last week: “I just don’t know how we didn’t win. Best time of our lives.”

Judging by conversations with friends and across social media following the broadcast of Shearer’s Euro 96, an overly warm look back on the competition, Venables was merely echoing the thoughts of a nation. England may not win much but few can match it for nostalgia. And that tournament, when football supposedly came home, is more sepia-tinged than most.

Shearer’s documentary took us back to a time where the tawdry spirits which formed Cool Britannia were fermenting; a few months before the big bang of a Newsweek cover which pronounced London as “the world’s coolest city”. Yet – remarkably – almost everything appeared staggeringly uncool. This was a land where the new lad looked remarkably like the old lad only with worse hair; and where wearing curtains, drinking Hooper’s Hooch and declaring Oasis as the greatest rock band since the Beatles was mainstream thought. The collective psychosis extended to Euro 96.

While England rocked the nation, too many other matches sent people to sleep. There were 2.06 goals a game and only nine in seven knockout matches – figures lower than Euro 2004, widely considered to be the worst European championship of them all. The crowds were just as patchy: 21,528 watched Russia’s 3-3 draw with the Czech Republic at Anfield, while only 19,107 bothered with Bulgaria against Romania at St James’ Park. Football’s coming home? More like fans staying at home.

Few English fans will remember what happened at Euro 2000 with such fondness, given England slumped out in the group stages, yet it was perhaps the greatest tournament of all our lives: football’s answer to Pet Sounds in its sustained brilliance. There were arguably 10 classic games, topped by Spain’s glorious 4-3 comeback against Yugoslavia, as well as a staggering average of 2.74 goals a game. Even one of the three goalless draws – Italy v Holland – produced one of the best nil-nils ever, while a desperately poor England team were involved in two thrillers, against Portugal and Romania.

Only the most myopic would argue that Euro 96 was better. Yet Shearer’s documentary captured how much England’s performances lifted the tournament and the nation. It did not matter that Venables’ side were patchy against Switzerland and Scotland and should have lost to Spain. A stunning obliteration of a Holland side riven with feuding and factionalism and that stirring semi-final against Germany, were enough to cherish.


The programme also provided a neat snapshot of how England’s fan culture was morphing. Speaking to Shearer, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner wondered whether it had started at Italia 90 but Bill Buford’s classic book Among the Thugs, leaves no room for doubt that English hooliganism was still rampant at that World Cup.

The hardcore England supporters Buford meets are vigorously nationalistic, desperate to prove their cultural superiority to every foreigner they meet. In Italia 90 he describes a pack of fans who possess a bloated code of maleness, an exaggerated patriotism, and a “lad culture so deadened that it uses violences to pick itself up”. And there are thousands of them.

The book ends with Buford being smashed to bits by the truncheons of Italian policemen, having earlier been part of a large mob of “bored ugly boys of the Union Jack” who charged cops before England’s World Cup match against Holland.

In Euro 96 those fans still existed – a Russian supporter was stabbed after the Germany game, remember – and one would have been brave not to expect eruptions of violence and rage in the forthcoming European Championship in France either. But the numbers were dwindling – helped by all-seater stadiums, closed circuit TV, better police intelligence and a slowly changing fan culture.

And it has been slow. Most people think Italia 90 and Euro 96 rapidly transformed English football by bringing newer, richer supporters into the game. But in the Economics of Football the respected academics Stephen Dobson and John Goddard cite a review of 11 studies of fans between 1983 and 1997 which, they say, “questions the common perception that the demographic composition of a typical 1990s crowd was markedly different to that of its predecessors in earlier decades”.

Another myth: the crowds for English football did not immediately spike after either tournament. In 1990, an aggregate of 19.5 million people watched a match in the top four divisions. The following year it was still 19.5 million. By 1996 the total attendances in English football were 21.8 million. A season later that figure had gone up by only 100,000.

However, by the late 90s those figures were skipping upwards by roughly a million a season. True, larger stadiums helped but so, undoubtedly, did the spirit of Euro 96.

[Juventino]

Yep, that was one.

It was a poor tournament, certainly not better than in 2016. But it's ok, it had atmosphere.

[God is an Englishman]

Yep, that was one.

It was a poor tournament, certainly not better than in 2016. But it's ok, it had atmosphere.

so we're nostalgic about a tournament by saying another tournament was better

[MegaBonus]

sound like anyone we know?????

The hardcore England supporters Buford meets are vigorously nationalistic, desperate to prove their cultural superiority to every foreigner they meet.

[God is an Englishman]

sound like anyone we know?????

The hardcore England supporters Buford meets are vigorously nationalistic, desperate to prove their cultural superiority to every foreigner they meet.

Sounds like most Australians.

[N5 1BH]

Can’t see the relevance of Euro 96 to this thread or even how that article is gushing about it. However if you really need to compare, I can still remember a fair bit of 96 can anyone remember anything from the comp a couple of weeks ago.

Euro 96 included Bergkamp, Hagi, Stoichkov, Zidane, Shearer, Gascoine, Zola, Del piero, Sukor , Klinsman,the Laudrops, Bergkamp and many more. The extra time nil –nils were down to the golden goal experiment but the 90 minute games were mostly quality.

Apart from an under par Ronaldo Euro 2016 included Giroud, Hal Robson, Eeyore, Dobbin etc. The games were generally dull, low quality played on low quality pitches by low quality players. 200 quid to see NI v Wales, wait a few weeks and you could pay 30 to watch Blackburn v Forest what’s the difference? You would need your head read to think Euro 2016 reached the pinnacle of football experiences.

[Kosta Utd]

I suppose after 49 years and however many days of rubbish, you start to get pessimistic about these things.

49 years and 355 days now


Wales >>> england.. facts are facts, the bald puffer fish just has to suck it up and deal with it.. worrying about it aint gonna grow his hair back

[God is an Englishman]

I suppose after 49 years and however many days of rubbish, you start to get pessimistic about these things.

49 years and 355 days now


Wales >>> england.. facts are facts, the bald puffer fish just has to suck it up and deal with it.. worrying about it aint gonna grow his hair back

Can you please provide these facts.

Thanks for providing the exact dates showing how wrong you were

[ozzie owl]

Can’t see the relevance of Euro 96 to this thread or even how that article is gushing about it. However if you really need to compare, I can still remember a fair bit of 96 can anyone remember anything from the comp a couple of weeks ago.

Euro 96 included Bergkamp, Hagi, Stoichkov, Zidane, Shearer, Gascoine, Zola, Del piero, Sukor , Klinsman,the Laudrops, Bergkamp and many more. The extra time nil –nils were down to the golden goal experiment but the 90 minute games were mostly quality.

Apart from an under par Ronaldo Euro 2016 included Giroud, Hal Robson, Eeyore, Dobbin etc. The games were generally dull, low quality played on low quality pitches by low quality players. 200 quid to see NI v Wales, wait a few weeks and you could pay 30 to watch Blackburn v Forest what’s the difference? You would need your head read to think Euro 2016 reached the pinnacle of football experiences.

I have to agree about Euro 2016 , which overall was dull with not many truly great games.

[Pie and Bovril]

This thread once again proving the infatuation by non-English people with the England football team.

[Bomber]

This thread once again proving the infatuation by non-English people with the England football team.

No different to the infatuation by poms re the Aussie team not that long back.