This band of brothers has made me envious and so, so PROUD
IF Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and those England boys can pull it off, I don’t think there will be a status high enough for them in this country.
Seriously. I dare not think about just how much their lives will change – if you can actually say that a Premier League footballer’s life will change.
Look, I get it. When you’re a top-flight footballer, you have it nice already. You live in the big house, you get the special treatment in restaurants, cinemas and bars.
You already live like you’ve won the European Championship. Victory tomorrow, though, and that will go to another level. Harry and Raheem will probably get the freedom of their boroughs in
London, maybe even the city itself. Jordan Henderson and Harry Maguire, too, with Liverpool and Manchester respectively. They will get OBES, they will eat for free wherever they go, they’ll be household names, TV celebrities. It will be off the scale.
They will have legendary status like Geoff Hurst, Jimmy Greaves, Alan Ball and the players of 1966 because many better, more talented managers and players have failed.
If Gareth Southgate’s England can pull it off – finally – they’ll be due every single bit of the praise and adulation that comes their way.
I was watching that game against Denmark at Wembley wishing I was still in the England fold. Part of the fantastic atmosphere and team spirit. Watching the way they fought for each other and found a way to win as a band of brothers, it left you in no doubt there is something very, special in that group driving them. So, yes, I was envious. And don’t confuse envy with jealousy. I was proud of them.
Rio Ferdinand, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and all the former England players in the crowd will have had exactly the same feelings.
In fact, any player who has ever pulled on an England shirt since 1966 will have been watching with joy and appreciation. They, too, will have been wishing they were a part of it.
But Wednesday night doesn’t even compare to what we will see if this England squad can finish the job against the Italians.
I left Wembley after midnight following the Denmark win and it was still going crazy. Then I saw the pictures in central London and realised it was carnage!
Beat Italy and it will shut the country down. I can’t see how we will cope – in a good way, of course.
People won’t want to turn up for work next week! Why would they? They’ll want to celebrate after so many heartbreaks over such a long period of time.
We’ve dared to dream ahead of tournament after tournament, only for our dreams to turn into nightmares.
But these players are one step away from finally turning the page and writing a new chapter in England’s history.