“Back in the 90s, when Britpop ruled the country, there was a charge of fantastic patriotism. Optimism was placed in a youthful, hopeful Tony Blair, my beloved Liverpool were embarking on a bout of abstinence-based detox of all things silver and support for England’s national team was riding the wave of an Italia 90 based revival. This often took ‘swarms’ (cough, cough) of Brits halfway across the world to watch their national team beat Macedonia, only to trek back again, and straight into work the next day. People, it was safe to say, were loving watching England.” backpagefootball