I remember the next day at school after the semi against Germany the first thing my best mate at school said to me was... "Something German somethings." or a phrase to that effect.
I went to all the England games, great days out. Simply Red awful, Gazza's goal was immense, the Dutch game was unbelievable (I also had chicken pox that I took to wembley that night to spread, wasnt going to miss that one), pearces penalty vs Spain and those fricking Germans struting round Wembley, Kuntz.
Excellent programme, wish it was longer. My conclusions: Why no interviews with Pearce, Adams, Platt etc? Teddy Sheringham is not the thicko I always imagined he was. Still maintain Ince is a bottler, his story about being No.7 didn't wash. England team needs a tournament song. Why isn't Barry Davies still commentating on football? He is a master. Wouldn't mind visiting El Tel's hotel.
Our ticket package covered all the games at Wembley, so the Dutch game was even more special as the win meant we stayed there instead of England going off to Villa Park as group runner-up.
Remember it like it was yesterday, can't believe it's 20 years, although thankfully I had managed to forget all about Simply Red. £300 for the ticket package, we paid £50 over six months to make it affordable! No waiting lists or ballots then.
The magic moments were all nicely covered on the programme last night. Memories of going absolutely mental when Gazza scored against Scotland and standing on the seats after the game singing three lions with my dopey St George bowler hat on my head. I have a signed picture of Pearce after his penalty on the wall at home, and the magical night against Holland.
We drank in a big pub in Kingsbury, Prince of Wales I think, which has been turned into flats. We were also there before and after the play-off final which ended up as the culmination of two brilliant years of football. Charlton and England teams that I loved and in the middle of all that was the draw in Italy in 97 which is up there with my favourite ever games.
Much like Venables on the documentary last night I don't think that a day passes without a little flashback to Gazza sliding in against Germany...one day he'll nick it in!
Slight regret over the final tickets, sulkily sold them to Germans, wish we'd gone now.
Our ticket package covered all the games at Wembley, so the Dutch game was even more special as the win meant we stayed there instead of England going off to Villa Park as group runner-up.
Remember it like it was yesterday, can't believe it's 20 years, although thankfully I had managed to forget all about Simply Red. £300 for the ticket package, we paid £50 over six months to make it affordable! No waiting lists or ballots then.
The magic moments were all nicely covered on the programme last night. Memories of going absolutely mental when Gazza scored against Scotland and standing on the seats after the game singing three lions with my dopey St George bowler hat on my head. I have a signed picture of Pearce after his penalty on the wall at home, and the magical night against Holland.
We drank in a big pub in Kingsbury, Prince of Wales I think, which has been turned into flats. We were also there before and after the play-off final which ended up as the culmination of two brilliant years of football. Charlton and England teams that I loved and in the middle of all that was the draw in Italy in 97 which is up there with my favourite ever games.
Much like Venables on the documentary last night I don't think that a day passes without a little flashback to Gazza sliding in against Germany...one day he'll nick it in!
Slight regret over the final tickets, sulkily sold them to Germans, wish we'd gone now.
I went. Good experience, sat between a couple of sound Ethels, and saw Queenie for the only time in my life - from miles away....
I didn't realise Gazza's near miss at the end (or was it during extra time for the golden goal?) was a hesitation on his part because he was anticipating the German goalkeeper was going to parry or get touch on the ball which would have allowed an easy tap in. Just so happened the keeper missed the ball entirely which left Gazza half a pace behind trying to adjust his position. That generally shows why Gazza was such a good player as he could anticipate play before it happened, although in this particular case it didn't quite come off because the goalkeeper was slow at reacting to the cross / come pass.
Blimey I'm old - my first disappointment was the first England game I ever watched and understood. 23 years before yours Tom. England v Poland 1974 world cup qualifier. England failed to qualify after an unlucky 1-1 draw at home. Set a pattern I guess.
A gang of us always went out for cup final day and that year we were in the Snooty fox at three bridges and every time you bought a lager (I think it was Heineken) you got a scratch card and won a prize, a hat, a scarf etc etc but if you didn't win you filled out your details on the back and it went into a draw to win pairs of euro96 tickets, which 3 of us actually won! So eight of us travelled to Wembley for the Spain quarter final, bought two more tickets from a tout between us and happy days! Always remember after the game it seemed like we were singing the 3 lions song for at least half an hour, fantastic atmosphere.
Excellent programme that, it really brought back memories of 1996 and that mid 90s feeling of optimism for the country. Was getting emotional with the Southgate miss, the Psycho penalty etc
I watched the semi in a hotel bar in the outskirts of Liverpool (up there for work). Every Wednesday in that hotel was karaoke night, and after the game in a bar full of depressed and angry scousers, they still went ahead with it...
Watched the Scotland game the other day. Glad I did really because my memory of it from the time is that we were massively fortunate to win and the "plucky" Scots could consider themselves unlucky.
But not at all. The first half was a bit of a non-event but after the break we stepped it up a few gears and could've had more - had completely forgotten about Sherringham's point blank header which produced a great save from Goram that was arguably better than the two big saves Seaman pulled off.
Oh, and it was disappointing to see how off the pace Gazza looked. Some great touches here and there and of course THAT goal, but a shadow of his former self.
A good watch all round though, particularly with all the build up and half time analysis, etc - a real throwback in time.
Holland game was on tonight, I even jumped up and shouted Penalty when Ince got brought down for the first goal! Felt a bit of a div, only 24 years too late!
Holland game was on tonight, I even jumped up and shouted Penalty when Ince got brought down for the first goal! Felt a bit of a div, only 24 years too late!
Holland game was on tonight, I even jumped up and shouted Penalty when Ince got brought down for the first goal! Felt a bit of a div, only 24 years too late!
Seeing England outfootball the Dutch was special
Still the best 90 mins I can remember from an England team. (Apart from beating the Germans 5-1 in their back yard in 2001)
The morning after the semi final was definitely the lowest I have ever felt because of football and maybe even the lowest I've ever felt for any reason. I was in my second year of teaching and the atmosphere at school was funereal. The kids were too depressed to even misbehave.
The morning after the semi final was definitely the lowest I have ever felt because of football and maybe even the lowest I've ever felt for any reason. I was in my second year of teaching and the atmosphere at school was funereal. The kids were too depressed to even misbehave.
Oh god, that day was the worst. The worst hangover I think I've ever had on top of the giant facepalm that was the germans spoiling the party. The atmospere that tournament created was probably the best I can remember, even Italia '90 didnt reach the heights of that, given how far we went in the tournament. Perhaps it was just because I was 14 at the time of Waddle and Pearce missing in the shoot out and the entire Euro '96 got spent in the pub for the England games.
loving watching re-runs of the games, mainly because at 21 years old I was absolutely smashed for pretty much the whole tournament and don't remember much about it.....I completely forgot we drew the first game.
I think the day of Eng v Scotland, a Saturday 3pm KO was possibly one of the drunkest I ever remember (or not remember as the case is) being..
The morning after the semi final was definitely the lowest I have ever felt because of football and maybe even the lowest I've ever felt for any reason. I was in my second year of teaching and the atmosphere at school was funereal. The kids were too depressed to even misbehave.
Oh god, that day was the worst. The worst hangover I think I've ever had on top of the giant facepalm that was the germans spoiling the party. The atmospere that tournament created was probably the best I can remember, even Italia '90 didnt reach the heights of that, given how far we went in the tournament. Perhaps it was just because I was 14 at the time of Waddle and Pearce missing in the shoot out and the entire Euro '96 got spent in the pub for the England games.
Euro 96 was a home tournament, which makes a massive difference, as it takes over the whole country, even if they aren't that into football.
And it's an enormous difference as well to have England playing in front of a Wembley packed with England supporters, all singing Three Lions...
What was interesting was we seem to have forgotten how Venables went from zero to hero. We were rubbish against Switzerland. Decent for 10 minutes against Scotland and a penalty miss from maybe even losing that game. A great win against Holland, and a lucky penalty win against Spain (before they were that good). Ok we did ok against the Germans but we got beaten.
When you analyse it, it was acceptable but nothing more.
What was interesting was we seem to have forgotten how Venables went from zero to hero. We were rubbish against Switzerland. Decent for 10 minutes against Scotland and a penalty miss from maybe even losing that game. A great win against Holland, and a lucky penalty win against Spain (before they were that good). Ok we did ok against the Germans but we got beaten.
When you analyse it, it was acceptable but nothing more.
Off_it's viewing of the whole game would appear to differ from your memory Mutts? See post about ten before this one...
"Watched the Scotland game the other day. Glad I did really because my memory of it from the time is that we were massively fortunate to win and the "plucky" Scots could consider themselves unlucky.
But not at all. The first half was a bit of a non-event but after the break we stepped it up a few gears and could've had more - had completely forgotten about Sherringham's point blank header which produced a great save from Goram that was arguably better than the two big saves Seaman pulled off."
Well, I watched it again the other day and we did improve in the second half - the first half was a dire affair from both sides. I factored that into the 10 minutes where we did start to look dangerous. After we scored they came back into it and Gazza got the famous second almost directly after McAllister missed his penalty as Scotland were pressing.
I know a win is a win. And Gazza's goal was a classic goal but the match wasn't anything to get excited about. Whilst the Holland match definitely was. But for me, it was a bit of an Oasis.
The morning after the semi final was definitely the lowest I have ever felt because of football and maybe even the lowest I've ever felt for any reason. I was in my second year of teaching and the atmosphere at school was funereal. The kids were too depressed to even misbehave.
Oh god, that day was the worst. The worst hangover I think I've ever had on top of the giant facepalm that was the germans spoiling the party. The atmospere that tournament created was probably the best I can remember, even Italia '90 didnt reach the heights of that, given how far we went in the tournament. Perhaps it was just because I was 14 at the time of Waddle and Pearce missing in the shoot out and the entire Euro '96 got spent in the pub for the England games.
It wasn't because of that. Euro 96 was just special. Just an amazing four weeks. I can remember where in the stadium I was for every match, the singing, Fantasy football, and generally the buzz created. I had also just got back from a year and a half overseas. It was a fantastic time to be in England. It was a great tournament that would have culminated in the greatest f****** party the world has ever seen if those pesky Germans hadn't got so god damned bloody lucky (again😡)
Holland game was on tonight, I even jumped up and shouted Penalty when Ince got brought down for the first goal! Felt a bit of a div, only 24 years too late!
I was at that game. The Dutch fans were great - we were all happy in the end as their late goal sent the Scots home.
Shearer was some player, Sheringham was the perfect partner for him and Gazza turned up for a tournament like only Gazza could.
Comments
Why no interviews with Pearce, Adams, Platt etc?
Teddy Sheringham is not the thicko I always imagined he was.
Still maintain Ince is a bottler, his story about being No.7 didn't wash.
England team needs a tournament song.
Why isn't Barry Davies still commentating on football? He is a master.
Wouldn't mind visiting El Tel's hotel.
We're going to win it this year, got a feeling in my water.
It's coming home
It's coming home
It's coming............
(A triumph of hope over experience)
Remember it like it was yesterday, can't believe it's 20 years, although thankfully I had managed to forget all about Simply Red. £300 for the ticket package, we paid £50 over six months to make it affordable! No waiting lists or ballots then.
The magic moments were all nicely covered on the programme last night. Memories of going absolutely mental when Gazza scored against Scotland and standing on the seats after the game singing three lions with my dopey St George bowler hat on my head. I have a signed picture of Pearce after his penalty on the wall at home, and the magical night against Holland.
We drank in a big pub in Kingsbury, Prince of Wales I think, which has been turned into flats. We were also there before and after the play-off final which ended up as the culmination of two brilliant years of football. Charlton and England teams that I loved and in the middle of all that was the draw in Italy in 97 which is up there with my favourite ever games.
Much like Venables on the documentary last night I don't think that a day passes without a little flashback to Gazza sliding in against Germany...one day he'll nick it in!
Slight regret over the final tickets, sulkily sold them to Germans, wish we'd gone now.
So many different moments and aspects of that tournament/period of time to look back on fondly.
Psycho's penalty against Spain is my all time favourite England moment.
I watched the semi in a hotel bar in the outskirts of Liverpool (up there for work). Every Wednesday in that hotel was karaoke night, and after the game in a bar full of depressed and angry scousers, they still went ahead with it...
The whole pub out on the street after stopping cars,climbing traffic lights. Dancing on top of buses.
Just a normal afternoon in Brighton really.
But not at all. The first half was a bit of a non-event but after the break we stepped it up a few gears and could've had more - had completely forgotten about Sherringham's point blank header which produced a great save from Goram that was arguably better than the two big saves Seaman pulled off.
Oh, and it was disappointing to see how off the pace Gazza looked. Some great touches here and there and of course THAT goal, but a shadow of his former self.
A good watch all round though, particularly with all the build up and half time analysis, etc - a real throwback in time.
Still the best 90 mins I can remember from an England team.
(Apart from beating the Germans 5-1 in their back yard in 2001)
I think the day of Eng v Scotland, a Saturday 3pm KO was possibly one of the drunkest I ever remember (or not remember as the case is) being..
And it's an enormous difference as well to have England playing in front of a Wembley packed with England supporters, all singing Three Lions...
When you analyse it, it was acceptable but nothing more.
"Watched the Scotland game the other day. Glad I did really because my memory of it from the time is that we were massively fortunate to win and the "plucky" Scots could consider themselves unlucky.
But not at all. The first half was a bit of a non-event but after the break we stepped it up a few gears and could've had more - had completely forgotten about Sherringham's point blank header which produced a great save from Goram that was arguably better than the two big saves Seaman pulled off."
My memory from being at the game is similar?
I know a win is a win. And Gazza's goal was a classic goal but the match wasn't anything to get excited about. Whilst the Holland match definitely was. But for me, it was a bit of an Oasis.
Shearer was some player, Sheringham was the perfect partner for him and Gazza turned up for a tournament like only Gazza could.