Three Lions Versus the World by Mark Pougatch

Author:Mark Pougatch [Mark Pougatch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Published: 2010-12-14T11:00:00+00:00

7

SPAIN 1982

Little did anyone realise as the England players hauled themselves from the field in Leon that it would be another long, dark, depressing 12 years before they played in the World Cup finals again. Despite the huge disappointment of losing in the quarter-finals in Mexico – and being outplayed by Günter Netzer of West Germany in the quarter-finals of the 1972 European Championship – there didn’t seem anything terrifying about the qualifying group that England were landed in, as they battled with Wales and Poland for the right to go to West Germany in 1974. Poland lost in Cardiff, and a circumspect England were beaten in Chorzów, where Bobby Moore made a rare mistake and Alan Ball was sent off, but victory in the return match at Wembley in October 1973 would mean Alf Ramsey leading his country into the World Cup for the third time.

The game at Wembley is seared into the consciousness of every England football fan, even if, like my generation, they do not remember it or were not even born; they have heard or read about it that often. Brian Clough’s description of the Polish goalkeeper Tomaszewski as ‘a clown’ is one of the most infamous and errant in the history of English football, as he proved himself anything but. Alan Clarke’s penalty salvaged a draw but no more, and for the first time since 1938, when their absence was self-imposed, the world’s best footballers would gather without England.

It was the end of an era. World Cup winner Martin Peters admitted, ‘It was a disaster and basically the end of my England career. We played so well that night, but the goalkeeper played out of his skin. You can’t be on top all the time in this game.’ Alf Ramsey limped on for two more matches before the most successful manager in England’s history was unceremoniously sacked in 1974. Leeds United’s Don Revie took over, but he failed to steer the team into the last eight of the European Championships, and the draw for qualifying for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina pitched them in with Italy – with only the group winners going through. Italy won in Rome 2–0 in November 1976, which effectively condemned England to a second successive World Cup on the sidelines – and hastened Revie’s end.

That season ended with the Scottish fans swinging deliriously on the Wembley crossbars and taking home pieces of turf for posterity after their 2–1 win in the Home Championship. When England flew to South America for their summer tour, the manager turned up late. Ipswich Town’s Paul Mariner was a young, strong striker with two caps to his name: ‘I remember sitting in Rio – and I was naive and raw – and one of the players telling me that Don had gone to the Middle East. I hadn’t a clue. I thought he had gone scouting or something. That was a major, major turning point in English football. People remember all that.’ Revie had

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