England expects... again
Right, all you media and advertising exec types - listen up. I thought we'd learned our lesson after the last World Cup. You remember, the one before which the so-called English "golden generation" were massively hyped up as potential winners and out of which we skulked after another limp quarter final defeat. Yeah, the one where we barely put in one decent half of football and where the bloody WAGs generated as many column inches as their spouses. It's bad enough when England inevitably exit a tournament on penalties - the sense of crushing disappointment is a damn sight worse when you lot have pumped up the pre-tournament optimism to a ridiculous and wildly unrealistic degree.
But what have we here? I've sat through multiple screenings of at least 5 different Come On Lads, England Expects-type ads this weekend - Kit Kat, Sky, The Sun, Carlsberg and Sony are all at it again. Two of these feature Terry bloody Venables, and during yours, the Sun, we even have to suffer his unique (ie rubbish) style of crooning. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?? Why can't you take your lead from Fabio Capello's confident-yet-understated management style which has impressively got us this far and maybe try not to get everyone's hopes up just for the sake of selling a few more TVs/papers/drinks/whatever?
I'm going to this World Cup, so it's perhaps a good thing that I won't be surrounded by the usual media hysteria by the time the tournament comes around. If England go out then it will hurt as usual, but at least I'll be on holiday on the other side of the world when we do (cf when I watched us lose in the Euro 96 semis on a sunny day in Canada, after which I could go out and eat ice-creams in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains to ease my pain).
You'll notice I said "if" back there, however. Because there's always that faint possibility that this time might be different and England might just sneak the win - particularly with the new-found professionalism Don Fabio has brought to the squad. And the lack of WAGs. But I don't need Terry Venables telling me we're definitely going to do it, thank you very much.
But what have we here? I've sat through multiple screenings of at least 5 different Come On Lads, England Expects-type ads this weekend - Kit Kat, Sky, The Sun, Carlsberg and Sony are all at it again. Two of these feature Terry bloody Venables, and during yours, the Sun, we even have to suffer his unique (ie rubbish) style of crooning. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?? Why can't you take your lead from Fabio Capello's confident-yet-understated management style which has impressively got us this far and maybe try not to get everyone's hopes up just for the sake of selling a few more TVs/papers/drinks/whatever?
I'm going to this World Cup, so it's perhaps a good thing that I won't be surrounded by the usual media hysteria by the time the tournament comes around. If England go out then it will hurt as usual, but at least I'll be on holiday on the other side of the world when we do (cf when I watched us lose in the Euro 96 semis on a sunny day in Canada, after which I could go out and eat ice-creams in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains to ease my pain).
You'll notice I said "if" back there, however. Because there's always that faint possibility that this time might be different and England might just sneak the win - particularly with the new-found professionalism Don Fabio has brought to the squad. And the lack of WAGs. But I don't need Terry Venables telling me we're definitely going to do it, thank you very much.
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