June 14th, 1970

England 2 West Germany 3 - an awful result. Too much for a young Jeremy to cope with!! Since then, every World Cup campaign has been littered with disappointment. Thank heavens I was alive in 1966, and saw, albeit in black & white, Geoff Hurst thunder home that left foot shot in extra time at Wembley.

Having suffered that 1970 humiliation (all Peter Bonetti's fault) we then had the Polish "clown" Jan Tomaszewski. He stopped everything that the England forward line could throw at him - including the kitchen sink! Our exit from the 1974 finals at the qualifying stage meant further depression for a young Jeremy and for the country at large. Mind you Margate did lift the Kent Senior Cup for the first time since the 30's a few months later. Hardly consolation.

So Scotland carried the hopes of the British Isles in Germany in 1974. They managed a 0-0 draw aginst Brazil but failed to score an adequate number of goals against Zaire and were eliminated. Scotland eliminated. That sounds so good!

The pundits tell us that the assembled English squad for Germany 2006 has a great chance of lifting the World Cup. I don't think so for a variety of reasons. I'll highlight them upon our certain demise at the quarter-final stage.

Pessimistic, moi. Never.