England Legends

My first real memories of supporting England other than a vague recollection of Terry Butcher covered in blood, are of the glorious World Cup in Italy in 1990. It was an incredible, exciting and dramatic introduction to international football for me with many iconic moments such as David Platt’s injury time winner, Gazza’s emergence (and later tears) and of course the heartbreaking loss to the Germans on penalties. As a nine-year-old I don’t think I was very aware of the magnitude of the achievement of getting to a first semi-final for twenty-four years. I naively felt this was the norm for England and we would inevitably go on to win something soon. Instead we've experienced many years of false hopes, penalty shoot-out defeats and even failed qualification campaigns. Now, fifty-five years on, the wait continues but under Gareth Southgate a lot of the belief has been restored and in Euro 2020 we came so very close to emulating the heroes of 1966 with a long awaited final appearance. It wasn't to be this time but with the age of the current squad, there is definitely reason to remain optimistic for the future. Following on from my popular ‘Gillingham Legends’ artwork and book, I decided to switch to England for the course of the belated Euro 2020 tournament, posting a picture on social media of a different player every day. This has proven popular and as I was unable to include all the players I wanted to, I’ve created this book in tribute to the ‘England Legends’.