Euro 96 re-run on ITV4

[Genie]

Anybody else going to watch this? I was about 14 first time through so lots I don’t remember.

Cant believe for England’s opener they dropped Platt (27 goals in 58 games) for Darren Anderton. 

The pressure one the team was immense back then, 20 minutes in and the commentators already saying “England need a goal” and the team playing with an unhealthy sense of urgency for so early in the first game.
 

[Wainy316]

Watching the opener now, considering watching the whole thing.

Such fond memories of the tournament but like you I was pretty young so lots of gaps to fill.

[Zatman]

Euro 96, along with Italia 90 are 2 tournaments with a lot of understandable nostalgia but were actually among the worst quality tournaments along with probably the World Cup 2010. Euro 96 actually has the lowest goals per game than any group stage in a World Cup or European tournament though introducing the Golden Goal made teams rarely attack in the cagey knock out games

[Xela]

The opening game against Switzerland was terrible. 

England went into the tournament under a huge amount of pressure. The press had destroyed the team and players due to the Hong Kong dentists chair incident and I think there may have been a scuffle on the flight back? 

[Genie]

2 minutes ago, Xela said:

The opening game against Switzerland was terrible. 

England went into the tournament under a huge amount of pressure. The press had destroyed the team and players due to the Hong Kong dentists chair incident and I think there may have been a scuffle on the flight back? 

Pre-match they mentioned an incident on the flight but I wasn’t sure what it was.

[Xela]

6 minutes ago, Genie said:

Pre-match they mentioned an incident on the flight but I wasn’t sure what it was.

Just looked it up and looked like Gazza caused about £5k worth of damage on the plane. 

Anyway, I remember this at the time. I was 16 when the tournament started. Good times. 

[The_Steve]

I was too young to have many formative memories of the tournament but I had no idea about the post-defeat violence either.

Quote

 

LONDON, June 27 -- A Russian student was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack and British police arrested more than 300 people nationwide after violence broke out in the wake of the English team's 6- 5 loss to Germany in the Euro '96 soccer semifinal in London. The Russian student, who was not identified, was stabbed five times by two British thugs after being asked if he and three friends were German, police said. He was recovering in hospital near Portslade, the southern English town where he was studying, and was listed in serious but stable condition The worst violence took place in Trafalgar Square in central London, where some 40 people were hurt, 18 of them police officers, as hundreds of fans threw beer cans and bottles at police lines. The fans overturned cars and smashed windows, prompting mounted police to charge the crowd. Prime Minister John Major, who was in the French city of Lyon for the annual summit of the Group of Seven industrialized countries, condemned the violence, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. 'The demonstration was not remotely in the spirit of the whole tournament, it wasn't remotely in the spirit of the way the England team played and it wasn't remotely in the spirit of the sportsmanship that we actually saw on the pitch at Wembley (Stadium) last night,' Major said. 'These people shouldn't besmirch soccer, they are not soccer supporters, they do damage to soccer.' Although the fans' passion was in evidence across Great Britain, not all of those who had hoped for a repeat of England's victory over Germany in the World Cup 30 years ago lived up to British fans' reputation for hooliganism.

Seven supporters were so distraught after the defeat that they jumped off a pier in the southern coastal town of Brighton and had to be rescued by the coast guard. But pockets of violence erupted in many towns across the country, and the London Metropolitan Police sent officers to help contain the mayhem. Although soccer hooliganism has declined at domestic matches, due in part to more stringent policing, fans accompanying the English squad to tournaments abroad still cause trouble. One of the most notorious incidents occurred in 1985 at Belgium's Heysel Stadium, when 39 people were killed after a wall collapsed as Liverpool fans charged those of the Italian club Juventas. The incident led to British teams being banned from European club competitions for five years. Some 75,000 fans watched Wednesday's match at Wembley Stadium, and another 26 million Britons caught the game on television. Germany will play the Czech Republic in Sunday's final, ending the three-week, European tournament which occurs every four years.

 

 

[Genie]

Another thing that surprised me from the commentary pre-match was the mention the players were about to start the biggest game of their lives. It’s funny how you forget just how big this tournament had been built up.

[Genie]

Steve Stone coming on for Mcmanaman (to huge boo’s).

Nicky Barmby for Sheringham

Couple for the players you’ve forgotten thread!

Edited May 11, 2020 by Genie

[Wainy316]

Hilarious that the commentators were bamboozled by the “new technology”, which came in the form of the electronic boards displaying the numbers of the subs.

”you never used to get this problem with the old painted boards” 

[Zatman]

12 minutes ago, Genie said:

Steve Stone coming on for Mcmanaman (to huge boo’s).

Nicky Barmby for Sheringham

Couple for the players you’ve forgotten thread!

Looking at the squad. Steve Howey was a back up defender. WOW 

[Xela]

Maybe it was rose tinted spectacles but it was a good time to be growing up in the UK. Not just football, but the general mood of the country was great. There seemed to have been an explosion of optimism and culture. Britpop, Euro 96, the early years of the Premier League and TV shows like TFI Friday just encapsulated that. A year away from New Labour and everything just seemed on the up. There was no Brexit, no virus, no ISIS, no arguments about immigration, no toxic social media or vacuous reality TV. Happier and simpler times IMO

[Xela]

Just now, Zatman said:

Looking at the squad. Steve Howey was a back up defender. WOW 

Always baffled he was ahead of Ehiogu 

[Wainy316]

2 minutes ago, Xela said:

Maybe it was rose tinted spectacles but it was a good time to be growing up in the UK. Not just football, but the general mood of the country was great. There seemed to have been an explosion of optimism and culture. Britpop, Euro 96, the early years of the Premier League and TV shows like TFI Friday just encapsulated that. A year away from New Labour and everything just seemed on the up. There was no Brexit, no virus, no ISIS, no arguments about immigration, no toxic social media or vacuous reality TV. Happier and simpler times IMO

Yeah always said I’d like to have been 5 years older or so in that era until I remember that I’d have hit 40 now if that was the case  

[Zatman]

2 minutes ago, Xela said:

Always baffled he was ahead of Ehiogu 

Ugo, Keown, Pallister think Bruce was still playing for United as well were much better options. Probably a couple more I am missing

[Xela]

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

Ugo, Keown, Pallister think Bruce was still playing for United as well were much better options. Probably a couple more I am missing

Yep, we've said it before but the fact Bruce never played for England was baffling. Bould was around as well. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

I remember it well, living in Scotland was especially powerful. Glad we put them to the sword, although they were delighted when the Germans beat us!

 

[It's Your Round]

Thanks for the heads up, I had no idea it was on. I was 16 in 1996 and absolutely loved football. Villa had recently won the Coca-Cola cup and the Euros promised to be an exciting tournament. While there might have been better tournaments from a goals scored point of view, this one has always been one of my favourites. Probably the old nostalgia creeping in. Gazza’s wonderful goal against Scotland was a moment I’ll never forget. The 4-1 over Holland (sorry to give the score away if you haven’t seen it), Shearer and Sheringham’s goals, and who can forget the semi final versus Germany. 
 

I remember the phone ringing (landline because no mobiles innit) on the morning of the semi. It was my mum, my mum who didn’t really like football. She asked what I was doing that day, “playing football in the street until the match later”, I replied... she responded with “I’m going to Wembley!” Her friend had got two tickets, not one for me but two just for them. I was not a happy lad! 
 

Anyway we all know what happened next. I got pelters from my non Villa fan mates because of Southgate, if only he’d put that away it could have been so different. We were so close, I was convinced we’d lift the trophy. 

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

The forwards who didn't make that squad were fairly good too, Andy Cole, Ian Wright, Le Tissier, Collymore, Dublin, Sutton and probably one or two others.

I looked at the Germany semi final a few weeks back too, a cracking game and absolutely filthy too, in modern days there would have been multiple red cards for both teams.

[Genie]

28 minutes ago, Kuwabatake Sanjuro said:

The forwards who didn't make that squad were fairly good too, Andy Cole, Ian Wright, Le Tissier, Collymore, Dublin, Sutton and probably one or two others.

Shearers goal against the Swiss was his first in 12 for England.