“There’s an old saying that says, fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.”
Danny Murphy was probably nodding along to those sage words from 43rd President of the United States of America, George W. Bush when he uttered them.
The reason being, it does not seem to matter how many times England flatter to deceive at major tournaments, some fans and pundits will never take the lessons on-board. They will never learn from what has been before.
At half-time in the BBC coverage of Spain’s Euro 2020 group stage match against Poland, former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand was defending himself for his bold pre-match shout for England’s 0-0 draw with Scotland.
Ferdinand could see no way England would not be winning against the Scots, and he has been wearing that viral prediction clip all day. At half-time, with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards ribbing him, Ferdinand explained that he had made his call based on what he had seen from England in recent weeks.
He hung his hat on England not going at the Scots from out wide and declared that Jadon Sancho may have unlocked the Scottish defence. Ferdinand then made another prediction – “I can’t see Poland getting back into this match.”
Sure enough, Poland equalised 10 minutes into the second half and the game ended 1-1. Ferdinand is what some punters would call ‘a cooler’ right now.
Meanwhile on the BBC, former Liverpool and England midfielder Danny Murphy was still plotting England’s course to the final, and to the European Championship trophy itself. As Spain struggled to break down the Poles, Murphy mused:
“From an England perspective you’d be looking at Spain and be thinking you’d have a good go against them.”
There you have it. Not out of their group yet, not burning the house down and a fair few players struggling for form, but Murphy is already fancying England having a crack off the Spanish in the knock-out stages.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
