SMALL EXPECTATIONS..

It`s an odd feeling for England to be going into a major international football tournament without the usual expectations.   Those have sometimes in the past taken the form of an aggressively rampant assumption that England will win it just because we`re, well, England.   Others assume that, because we`re England, we`ll face either the accustomed early exit or one a little later on by going out on penalties - a kind of default withdrawal.

Under former England management my own hopes, rather than expectations, sometimes took the unpatriotic form of wishing for dismal failure if for no other reason than I thought the pampered millionaires strutting the football field deserved the nation`s unbridled disdain.   So, have things changed now we have the worldly, urbane Roy Hodgson in the hot-seat?   

Well, we still have the pampered millionaires - the unfathomable Rooney, selected despite being banned for the first two games;  the forthright John Terry of whom much is alleged; and the perennial overstatement that is Ashley Cole.   The squad has been beset with injuries and unfortunate events such as Jermaine Defoe`s family bereavement and Rio Ferdinand`s surprise omission for `football reasons.`   So maybe on this occasion any failure will not be seen as dismal so much as something expected, forgiven even, in the circumstances.

And this leads me to the notion that the overriding attitude among England football followers might on this occasion be something approaching indifference.   Shoulders may be shrugged, lessons may be learned and moving on at the end of the day may be a cliché whose time has come; unless that indifference reaches a tipping point and becomes total disinterest, which has its attractions.   Even so, I`m reminded that Denmark and Greece both won the European Championships despite not being given any chance by bookies, pundits and assorted `football men.`   

So who knows?   Perhaps, just perhaps, the indifference surrounding Roy Hodgson and his charges might just work in their favour, see them grab an unlikely victory from the jaws of predicted defeat and end up winning the thing. At which point, all the strident, rampant, jingoism will doubtless return to haunt us once more and so it may be as well to hope that expectations remain small and become realised.   That`ll do nicely.