With a nation this united, there's no way Southgate will be caught short
Gareth Southgate's tournament clobber prompts Steve Davies to reminisce
As a lifelong Rotherham fan, the years generally pass by unexceptionally. Hardship upon angst upon unutterable pain softened by fleeting dashes of abject mediocrity to occasionally lift the spirits and balm the soul. It's a predictable if none too uplifting existence.
But even we, courtesy of the FA's obsession with creating more and more opportunities for rubbish sides to get to Wembley, have had our days in the sun.
And none was sunnier than the 2014 playoff final defeat of Leyton Orient, a game which would have been remembered for Alex Revell's wonder strike had the then Millers' chief Steve Evans not completely stolen the big fella's thunder with a celebratory touchline charge of such groundshaking ferocity that it nearly cost him his trousers.
Evans took it all in good humour – but imagine if it happened to Gareth Southgate against Croatia. What would that do for the national mood?
And after the official unveiling of the Southgate tournament wardrobe - surely preferable as a pre-finals staple than the 'hit record' which, word has it, was going to feature Ozzy Osbourne, Marcus Rashford and Alan Carr doing a hardcore grime cover of Chas and Dave's Gertcha - a keen-eyed Bournemouth leather maker clocked that Southgate wasn't wearing a belt.
Fearing a repeat of The Evans Incident, our man from the Jurassic Coast quickly rushed one off to St George's Park, patriotically doing his bit and saving the England gaffer – and indeed the country – from a potential national indignity.
Is it any wonder we're second favourites for this bunfight with the country this united?
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Published on 12 June 2021inEuro tips
Last updated 13:55, 12 June 2021
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