Watching England's Under-17s, in whom such hope had suddenly been vested, lose to their German counterparts in the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico late Monday night, Gareth Southgate's mind went back 11 years to another Anglo-German encounter.
Forget that. Drop these crap coaches. What has Southgate and half the England setup ever done. If we have flop teachers teaching the kids what can we expect.
Get in Neville, Merson, Adams, Scholes, Shearer and maybe give Gazza a reason to live. It's the only way things will change.
It's time England started evolving past "slingshot" football (pulling all the way back and launching the ball forward).