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Euro 96

Bristol Rob

By Bristol Rob
in Football Chat

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Erithacus

Erithacus

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One of my best memories was trying to ring for tickets for the competition. In the dark distant days before the internet it was only possible to get them by hanging on the phone...for about a lifetime, listening to the engaged tone. Luckily I could use the works phone a lot but got nowhere for a week - until an actual living person picked the line up and spoke to me. I assumed there were no England games available so I bought a few for other matches, but they said a new allocation had been released and so I also got my sticky paws on the three group games at Wembley! Fabulous days in the old stadium and even better to come. I found myself at the end where Gazza flipped  the ball over Colin Hendry and it was Dentist's Chair time...:clapping::bounce::englandsmile4wf:

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Miah Dennehy

Miah Dennehy

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It was a really strange time for me. My daughter Molly had been born around 6 weeks before the tournament started, she was premature and weighed in at just 15 ounces and spent all of her short life at Southmead hospital. I was going to the games then travelling back and going to see her in the middle of the night (there was no restrictions on visiting hours for kids in the intensive care unit). There was this strange feeling of euphoria while I was at the games, tempered by the obvious worry about my daughter and looking back I view the whole tournament as marking a big change in how I view my life .

I still laugh when I think of the quarter final against Spain and my mate getting in a row with Wendy Richard after we spotted her in  outside a Paddington pub and he started yelling 'Pauline' at her and at the semi final game drinking with Johnny Vaughan and his mates after a mate struck up a conversation with him, it was before he got the Big Breakfast gig but he had been on TV and I spent the whole time trying to remember  who he was while my mate didn't have a clue who he was.

It was a bit of a scramble to get tickets for the semi final , but we did manage to get a couple (I seem to remember  it was a case of just ringing the ticket office to get them). The noise was so loud  at the start of the game, that when Shearer got the early goal, there wasn't that much of a noticeable difference in the noise. 

I even went to the final . Divvy (not that I ever called him that, he was always Mark to me) had 3 tickets, but once England were out he wasn't interested, so sold them to me.

After briefly leaving intensive care, Molly caught an infection and died in the August. Like England's bid for glory, it just wasn't meant to be, but by May of 1997 we had a son ( and another daughter in 99).  So Euro 96 meant an awful lot to me for all sorts of reasons , however Tony Blair will be remembered, there was still a real feel good factor about the country and Euro 96 was a huge part of that wasn't really seen again until the 2012 Olympics.

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Vincent Vega

Vincent Vega

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14 minutes ago, Miah Dennehy said:

It was a really strange time for me. My daughter Molly had been born around 6 weeks before the tournament started, she was premature and weighed in at just 15 ounces and spent all of her short life at Southmead hospital. I was going to the games then travelling back and going to see her in the middle of the night (there was no restrictions on visiting hours for kids in the intensive care unit). There was this strange feeling of euphoria while I was at the games, tempered by the obvious worry about my daughter and looking back I view the whole tournament as marking a big change in how I view my life .

I still laugh when I think of the quarter final against Spain and my mate getting in a row with Wendy Richard after we spotted her in  outside a Paddington pub and he started yelling 'Pauline' at her and at the semi final game drinking with Johnny Vaughan and his mates after a mate struck up a conversation with him, it was before he got the Big Breakfast gig but he had been on TV and I spent the whole time trying to remember  who he was while my mate didn't have a clue who he was.

It was a bit of a scramble to get tickets for the semi final , but we did manage to get a couple (I seem to remember  it was a case of just ringing the ticket office to get them). The noise was so loud  at the start of the game, that when Shearer got the early goal, there wasn't that much of a noticeable difference in the noise. 

I even went to the final . Divvy (not that I ever called him that, he was always Mark to me) had 3 tickets, but once England were out he wasn't interested, so sold them to me.

After briefly leaving intensive care, Molly caught an infection and died in the August. Like England's bid for glory, it just wasn't meant to be, but by May of 1997 we had a son ( and another daughter in 99).  So Euro 96 meant an awful lot to me for all sorts of reasons , however Tony Blair will be remembered, there was still a real feel good factor about the country and Euro 96 was a huge part of that wasn't really seen again until the 2012 Olympics.

Couldn't give a sad and happy emoji. Great story .

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One Team In Keynsham

One Team In Keynsham

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I had left the country late 1995 but had previously bought tickets for all England games, including the path to the final if we topped the group, so I burned the bulk of my annual leave to come back for the whole thing. Arrived the morning of the Switzerland game and left the Tuesday after the final. Had a brilliant time, even if it ended in normal England tournament heartbreak. Good times.

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CyderInACan

CyderInACan

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56 minutes ago, Miah Dennehy said:

It was a really strange time for me. My daughter Molly had been born around 6 weeks before the tournament started, she was premature and weighed in at just 15 ounces and spent all of her short life at Southmead hospital. I was going to the games then travelling back and going to see her in the middle of the night (there was no restrictions on visiting hours for kids in the intensive care unit). There was this strange feeling of euphoria while I was at the games, tempered by the obvious worry about my daughter and looking back I view the whole tournament as marking a big change in how I view my life .

I still laugh when I think of the quarter final against Spain and my mate getting in a row with Wendy Richard after we spotted her in  outside a Paddington pub and he started yelling 'Pauline' at her and at the semi final game drinking with Johnny Vaughan and his mates after a mate struck up a conversation with him, it was before he got the Big Breakfast gig but he had been on TV and I spent the whole time trying to remember  who he was while my mate didn't have a clue who he was.

It was a bit of a scramble to get tickets for the semi final , but we did manage to get a couple (I seem to remember  it was a case of just ringing the ticket office to get them). The noise was so loud  at the start of the game, that when Shearer got the early goal, there wasn't that much of a noticeable difference in the noise. 

I even went to the final . Divvy (not that I ever called him that, he was always Mark to me) had 3 tickets, but once England were out he wasn't interested, so sold them to me.

After briefly leaving intensive care, Molly caught an infection and died in the August. Like England's bid for glory, it just wasn't meant to be, but by May of 1997 we had a son ( and another daughter in 99).  So Euro 96 meant an awful lot to me for all sorts of reasons , however Tony Blair will be remembered, there was still a real feel good factor about the country and Euro 96 was a huge part of that wasn't really seen again until the 2012 Olympics.

Well that stopped me in my tracks. Very brave of you to tell us (obviously only part of)  Molly's story, I know that must've been hard even after all these years. 

Euro96 and the few years either side of it were bloody amazing. Probably the last years of being completely care-free before real life started to kick me in the bollocks on a regular basis. 

 

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Miah Dennehy

Miah Dennehy

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46 minutes ago, CyderInACan said:

Well that stopped me in my tracks. Very brave of you to tell us (obviously only part of)  Molly's story, I know that must've been hard even after all these years. 

Euro96 and the few years either side of it were bloody amazing. Probably the last years of being completely care-free before real life started to kick me in the bollocks on a regular basis. 

 

Reading it back it looks a bit overly sentimental for a thread about football, but I would imagine for many of us there are occasions that football can play a huge part in our lives. I look bad at that particularly tournament with fondness rather than sadness, it did seem a very positive time for our country.

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WayOutWest

WayOutWest

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I was serving in the Royal Navy in Plymouth when England played Germany in the semi.

There was a large NATO exercise going on at that time and couple of large German frigates alongside that night.  After finishing my shift it was straight up the bar on the base just in time for KO.  The bar is massive.... massive.

For obvious reasons the Germans were not granted leave.  Their only option was the bar.  When I got in there it was absolutely rammed.  We didn't know how many of them were in there.....hundreds stood when their national anthem came on.

The atmosphere was amazing, was like being at a proper game.  Hostile at times too. Well needless to say at the end everything spilled over into a massive fight.  MOD Police deployed and blood noses everywhere.

Probably the best atmosphere outside of Wembley.

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The Bard

The Bard

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1 hour ago, 'Pack' It In said:

Looking back at the tournament made me remember how ? Darren Anderton was!  ?

No he wasn't.  Venables knew he needed someone in the midfield to cover ground, with a team mentalilty to offset the more attacking instincts of Gascoigne and McManaman (who was superb in the tournament).  He balanced the midfield.  It's not coincidence he was part of this side and the side at the 98 World Cup.  He scored a cracker v Columbia as well as some heroic defending v Argentina when they tried to score on the break after Campbell's goal was disallowed.  

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BS15_RED

BS15_RED

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Posted
2 hours ago, cityexile said:

I still to this day do not know how Gazza failed to connect with a tap in to score a golden goal winner against the Germans. I watched it live at Wembley, I have watched it countless of times since. He has to score.

He said he was expecting the defender to cut it out, so he hesitated slightly, just enough to miss it.

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Erithacus

Erithacus

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It's one of those TV moments that, despite having seen it many times before, I still can't believe he didn't score. A bit like Montgomery's save in the Cup final - seems impossible but it defies understanding.

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Spoons

Spoons

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20 minutes ago, Super said:

Has there been a more talented English player than Gazza?

Probably not. I might get hammered for this shout but Matt le tiss !!! If he would left Southampton and if England were brave enough to pick him more ...boy he had some talent.

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