Football's coming Home - Fantasy Football and Euro 96

Football’s coming home - Fantasy Football, Euro 1996, the England Football team and a Summer of love

So you may have found yourself here because you are wondering why England football fans constantly refer to “it’s coming home” whenever they play in a major tournament such as the World Cup or the European Championships.

Not only do they say it, but they also sing it, and now every two years they tell everyone in jest and in hope that “it’s coming home this year for sure”.

So where did this phrase come from and why is it now a permanent resident in the lexicon of international football. Oli Harris returns to his youth to tell you in his own words, what it means, but more importantly what it meant.

Fantasy Football – Baddiel and Skinner

In 1994 David Baddiel and Frank Skinner presented a very popular TV show called ‘Fantasy Football League’, which was a chat and features show based around studio guests picking their own fantasy team and coming in to plug something at the same time. A classic chat show format but about football under the fantasy banner. Fantasy football was in its infancy but the early days of the Premier League launched fantasy into the mainstream.

School kids especially got into fantasy, this was generally pre-online as well so you had to post off your team, and as such the viewership of the show was pretty young too.

Skinner and Baddiel were irreverent and appeared to do what they wanted, which at the time was quite rare and it made for some very funny TV. Unless you were Jason Lee, but that’s another story.

Off the back of their success, they became household names and associated with the laddish Britpop culture of the time. Think Oasis and Blur, scruffy clothes and bad haircuts. I used to love the show and as such thought they were quite cool as well.

So when they launched a football song, just ahead of a major international tournament, with a really good video to accompany it… well, it worked!

Euro 1996 – The greatest Summer for a young football fan

Euro 1996 was just the perfect tournament for me. I was 16 and really into football, but my club side was terrible. I didn’t have memories of many cup finals or being even close to the top of the league. I had black and white pictures from the 60s on my wall instead!

So when Terry Venables, who was a legend for my club, announced a strong England team for the 1996 European Championship, I really grasped the thought that we might do pretty well. The team had a great balance and was one where everyone fitted into their position nicely.

Shearer and Sheringham were a perfect duo, Ince and Gascoigne complimented each other well and the spine of the team was solid. It was just a really good team, and they showed it.

The build-up was totally transformed however by Baddiel and Skinners song ‘It’s coming home’. With players from the team recreating moments from England’s past and a catchy tune, it was a huge success. So much so that I remember buying the CD and almost listening to it into the ground.

Pre DVD and Netflix, I recorded the video and watched Sheringham recreate Bobby Moore’s long-range strike over and over. The song genuinely gave us all a buzz that perhaps we could win a trophy after 30 years of trying.

The build-up was made yet more intriguing by the team getting caught drinking to excess on a night out in Hong Kong, which again as kids we thought was class. They were a team going out together and looking like best friends… the media didn’t see it the same way.

Also, the England kit was class. Still, the best one they have had!

1996 - Coming of Age

Not only was it a Summer featuring the European Championship, but it was also the Summer that I got packed off to do my work experience. I worked in an investment bank and found my home in the IT department, with a lot of fellow football enthusiasts.

They also educated me in the ways of the pub… the ways of buying a round… the ways of bad language and a total 100 percent commitment to the England football team!

So it was all I heard about. The song, the papers, the guys at work and of course friends from school that I saw doing other things. We just were totally wrapped up in this glorious tournament.

Without doing a full review of the thing, England against the odds smashed up Holland in the Quarterfinals and set a date with destiny against Germany at Wembley.

England Vs Germany – Euro 1996 semi-final

As I mentioned I was working at the bank, which was near Moorgate for a couple of weeks. Now I don’t know how I got the invite exactly, remember there were no mobile phones or if I did have one it would have been the brick, but an invite to the match came my way. One of my close mates from school had a ticket, and he asked me along. Of course, I ripped his arm off.

We trekked to Wembley from Kent and I bought a white T-shirt with a bulldog on the front, how times have changed. To this day I don’t think I have been to a match with an atmosphere quite like it.

Not only was it against Germany, but it was the semi-final at Wembley, the old Wembley at that. My Grandmother lived around the corner and had dragged me to the market at Wembley for years on a Sunday morning, but I had never been inside. I used to hear the crowd from her house but had never been part of it

It really was incredible and was made even more incredible when Alan Shearer headed in after about 10 minutes. We went ballistic and England looked like they were destined for the final.

As we all know that was not to be, a series of heartbreaking moments and another penalty shootout loss sent Germany on their way to the final where they beat a spirited but not exactly brilliant Czech Republic side.

The disappointment was compounded by a police horse stepping on my foot, people crying on the train and us getting the wrong train home. My Mum went crazy that we were so late and overall it was just a terrible end to what had been overall the most magical month.

Football never quite made it home

So dear reader, the next time someone mentions ‘It’s coming home’ you can point them in my direction and I will bore them to tears for hours telling them about the time it nearly did.

The greatest Summer a 16 year old boy could ask for back in 1996.