Southgate hopes the lessons of 1966 can inspire success

As the Three Lions scrape through to the quarter-finals at Euro 2024, the England manager is drawing on history to keep his whole squad of players hungry

- Richard Jolly

It was thirty years of hurt when Gareth Southgate stepped up and missed a penalty and it was about to become at least 60 until Jude Bellingham attempted an overhead kick. Southgate makes no secret of his ambitions to emulate Sir Alf Ramsey, to double the number of trophy-winning managers in England’s history. He looks to the past to provide inspiration and lessons alike. If 1966 has become a profitable nostalgia industry, it is so long ago that many of the England players’ parents were not born. They could be forgiven for not knowing all the details.

At St George’s Park, before England ventured to Germany, Southgate turned back time. “We showed the players a presentation about 1966 and how Geoff Hurst hadn’t played until the quarter-final.” Hurst ended up the hat-trick hero in the final and if that scarcely needs explaining, some of Southgate’s charges may not know that a man who achieved immortality had entered the 1966 World Cup with a lone international goal to his name.

Plans can change en route, fringe figures can assume central roles. The path to glory is not always smooth, even if England contrived to make it look remarkably bumpy as they squeezed past Slovakia.

England have found an unconvincing way to win their group and have looked unimpressive on their route to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024. The manner of it leaves Southgate admitting they have to be better. The history lesson was to inform his charges that it might not be easy. “We just wanted to highlight that tournaments take you in strange places and difficult routes so it was just a bit of perspective,” he said.