Originally published by Ace Magazine Liverpool June 2014.

When supporting England, the feeling between despondency and elation is sometimes so blurred that you can go from one World Cup competition having crashed out in the second round (1982) but feeling optimistic about the future to then getting so close that the air of expectation hangs round every football fan you meet like a bad smell in summer time (1990). There never has been a real mix of consistency, no real so called Golden Generation, except for what the Fleet Street media like to impose upon the thoughts of the fans that for years have doggedly followed the national team exploits (or lack of them).