EURO 96 AN ALMOST PERFECT SUMMER

TOM GREEN RECALLS A TOURNAMENT WHICH CAPTURED THE ENTIRE COUNTRY'S IMAGINATION

KEVIN Keegan's Newcastle United had just blown a 12-point lead, Premier League football was on the rise, 4-4-2 was still cool, the Spice Girls were preparing for world domination and the Fugees were number one with Killing Me Softly - to put it simply, this was the summer of 1996 when football so nearly came home.

Firstly, we need to address the jaw-dropping revelation that Three Lions by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds was not topping the charts as Euro 96 kicked off.

Don't get me wrong, the Fugees produced a classic, a song that has very recently been enjoyed on my journey to work, but surely Three Lions had to be the top dog at that moment! It was not the case and, much like the Czech Republic three weeks later, they had to settle for second place.

The Premier League was still in its infancy, with Manchester United picking up their third title in four seasons as well as defeating Liverpool in a not-so-memorable FA Cup final to clinch the double.

Football was entertaining and grabbed the public's attention. We were all watching great goals, crunching tackles and managers completely losing the plot in post-match interviews. It was brilliant! As an eight-year-old, I had been fortunate enough to be at Wembley for the FA Cup final and had been fully immersed in the dramatic title race and Keegan's ranting and raving. Now, to add to the fervour, Euro 96 was upon us and I was set for my first taste of glorious failure supporting England.

Being so young, I had little knowledge of the incidents in Hong Kong with the dentist's chair - my focus was firmly on the opening game against Switzerland.

The tournament's curtain-raiser - a 1-1 draw turned out to be a bit of a letdown and succeeded only in dampening expectations and piling more scrutiny on the incidents on tour.