English chums are still entitled to celebrate 1966

DON’T be so damned churlish.

If some in our number can continue to harp on about Wembley ’67 and all that, reminding us all that Scotland were crowned ‘unofficial world champions’ by dint of humiliating the Auld Enemy on home soil, it really wouldn’t be fair to complain about our nearest and dearest rivals celebrating the 50th anniversary of their finest hour.

Yes, that BBC Radio 2 trailer for the Jeremy Vine 1966 special can get a bit grating. Never more so than on Friday night, when Sara Cox slipped it into her Prince tribute show at the most inopportune moment, cutting right through the opening bars of the guitar solo in Purple Rain. Not exactly a contender for Pick of the Week, that howler.

Yet the fact remains that all our English chums are perfectly entitled to glory in memories of the summer when they won the World Cup. While we might wind them up with asides about Sir Alf’s men playing all their games at Wembley, or Sir Geoff’s much-disputed goal, the truth is we’re deeply envious.

At this rate, we’ll be looking out the bunting in a couple of years’ time just to mark 20 years since Scotland last qualified for a major finals.

Imagine the celebrations should we actually get through a group stage, one of these days.

This summer is certainly going to be tough, with almost half of UEFA’s member nations gathering in France for a tournament much devalued by expansion — but not yet open enough for us to claim a spot.

Perhaps the best we can hope to achieve is to suffer with a smile on our faces, wishing the other Home Nations all the very best of British.

And ever so quietly grinding our teeth when the boys of ’66 are given their deserved moment in the sun.

Do you think it will be mentioned?