sport news England's Euro 2020 story end terribly but Gareth Southgate has enabled a ...

sport news England's Euro 2020 story end terribly but Gareth Southgate has enabled a ...
sport news England's Euro 2020 story end terribly but Gareth Southgate has enabled a ...

Why do you support your football team? The first is unconditional love, maintaining a family tradition. The bond is formed with innocence at childhood but, the older you get, you know the bad times will outweigh the good.

More often than not, you will always have the knowledge that the biggest contests – those days when Premier League titles are won and those nights when legends emerge in the Champions League – will take place without you having an emotional involvement.

The dream that one day you will get a chance to celebrate a piece of silverware never leaves you but the reality in England, given the way the footballing world has changed over the last decade, is that unless you support one of the superpowers those days will remain out of reach.

England manager Gareth Southgate has moulded a team that has enabled a country to dream

England manager Gareth Southgate has moulded a team that has enabled a country to dream

England lost the Euro 2020 final 3-2 on penalties to Italy at Wembley on Sunday evening

England lost the Euro 2020 final 3-2 on penalties to Italy at Wembley on Sunday evening

That thought came to mind on arrival at Wembley Park tube station, five hours before England's biggest game since 1966. Straight away, the banners were in front of you, screaming out why this was so important and what was a stake.

We use the phrase 'once in a lifetime' too much but here, genuinely, was such an occasion to define those words. For the followers of Sutton United and Wycombe Wanderers, for those with allegiances to Grimsby, Norwich and Ipswich when will they next get to attend a showpiece contest?

It was the same inside the stadium. Decorating the top tier were countless Crosses of St George from different parts of the land: Portsmouth, Nottingham, Southampton, Bradford, Barnsley, Derby, even one bearing the name of Bury FC, the proud club who paid the ultimate price for shameful financial mismanagement.

They were here, standing united, because Gareth Southgate has moulded a team that has enabled a country to dream and pieced together a squad with whom the individuals are easy to identify and relate to; there are no suspicions about this group, no doubts over their commitments.

Remember the days when games at Wembley would see those in white being booed by their own fans? Wayne Rooney had it; Ashley Cole likewise. Frank Lampard and John Terry would never have been universally popular thanks to the club they played for, ditto Steven Gerrard.

Southgate consoles Jadon Sancho, brought on at the end to take penalty but who missed

Southgate consoles Jadon Sancho, brought on at the end to take penalty but who missed

But tens of thousands decamped to London because

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