On 27 June 2010 champagne bottles were re-corked and barbeques extinguished as England crashed out of the FIFA World Cup, losing 4–1 to Germany. As in 1966, it was ‘all over’, but this time in favour of the opposition. An estimated audience of 20 million, who would have at least optimistically expected a victorious outcome, were left despondent.
During the days that followed, the media savagely criticised both the national team and its manager. Some suggested that this was crucial to the operation of the ‘golden triangle’, which has an increasing stranglehold on professional sport in all countries of study. However, others stated that intensive commercialism meant that success in the Premier League now took priority over performance at international level. One eminent commentator went so far as to assert that under the current system of organisation, ‘success in 2014 could be already written off’. Such pessimism is unlikely to emerge from the failure of any other UK national sports team.
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