The answer to the question

"How often does an England team in any major tournament play as if they think they are the best and can win on merit? Almost never, they try not to lose."

The reason is because Ramsey won a tournament like that and it's ingrained into English football that that method is what will win for us. If anyone ever sat down and thought that Ramsey's success was built on his correct (but unpleasant) assumption that no referee in the world would dare send off Styles in the World Cup finals at Wembley then things might have been different for all these years.

Posted By: Creosote Ah Um, Jun 21, 10:21:18