ABSTRACT

It is the evening of 21 November 2007 and the much-maligned England football team coach, Steve McClaren, is standing under his now infamous blue and red umbrella, watching his team lose by three goals to two against Croatia in front of a capacity crowd at Wembley Stadium. I am not at the stadium but sitting at home watching the match on television as the commentary retreads lines about “more years of hurt” and the England football team’s underperforming “golden generation”. As a consequence of this defeat, England has failed to qualify for the following summer’s European Championships (Euro ‘08).