Italia 90 was a shocking tournament in general, but England and Ireland stank the place out. We tend to reminisce fondly because of Gazza and what might have been, and the Irish because of how far they got.
I recall that being the first tournament where ‘ball in play’ stats were given, and the England Ireland game being ridiculed because the actual minutes fell below 45. Over half of the game time lost to the ball being hoofed out of play to dinosaurs unable to control a football and the thing being treated like a hand grenade. The Irish didn’t care because they stumbled along and didn’t have to go home but the rest of the world was laughing at us.
We’d spent decades since Ramsey playing Jurassic football convincing ourselves we should be winning things because….. err, we are England and invented football. But the world had moved on. Intelligent coaches playing intelligent formations with innovative tactics.
So the solution to this problem and to take on this brave new challenge was……. to appoint Graham Taylor.
