YOU MISS 100% OF THE SHOTS YOU DON’T TAKE.

And that my English friends is now what you should be ‘taking home’.

I wrote yesterday pre-match of how incredibly proud I am to be English. And I still am, more than ever despite what I have woken up to.

And you know why?

The racist bullies are NOT MY PEOPLE and not who I identify with as an English citizen. The horrific videos I have seen circulating of 50+ year old men beating the utter sh*t out of kids probably the same age as their own children is what I had really hoped we had moved away from this competition and turned a corner.

But, we need to remember, we CANNOT allow the few to ruin what is and has been a sensational ride and a squad that really HAS made a difference. A squad that even I looked at and thought, if I ever have a son I’d want him in an England shirt playing at Wembley.

I have never understood the 0-100 in 60seconds mentality of hero-villain in football. You don’t tend to see it in any other sport. It’s almost like the ‘fans’ (which is a word I struggle to use as to me, a fan supports through thick and thin, but nevertheless) think that they own the game and the players, that each player owes them something personally - that’s how I have interpreted behaviour from years working behind a bar and being from a football area.

How a guy, or rather a kid, be the best thing since sliced bread this morning, be utterly humiliated, ridiculed and torn to pieces NOT just about his athletic ability within the game but the colour of his skin which is totally unrelated to his playing skill, is beyond my comprehension.

Imagine sitting behind a smartphone calling players losers and cowards 20 pints deep, with piss on your pants wondering whether to have a dirty kebab or greasy burger on the way home - obvs not pizza as we also hate all Italians now.

These guys are someone’s son, brother, nephew, cousin, friend. WTF. Imagine your son getting THAT kind of hate from people that could only dream of touching the soil at Wembley let alone don the national colours kicking a ball on it.

The only reason these people are at Wembley are because of these incredibly talented young men. Without them, there is no England team. Fact.

To be chosen to represent England is an absolute honour. To wear the 3 lions over your heart is something precious. And that shouldn’t stop at the 11 men on the pitch, the 26 quad, the manager or extended staff. No. Anyone putting on that shirt, anyone flying or wearing the St. George’s flag should know what they are doing. REPRESENTING ENGLAND FOR ALL OF US. And if you cannot hold that responsibility, none of us want you.

To lose on penalties is bitter sweet. But we have been here before. And ‘fans’ should know how to handle it. This photo of Southgate for me is the equivalent of those Gazza tears. The sheer emotion in that picture hurts hard, because in that moment he knew what it feels like and he probably feared what would come next. Unfortunately he was right.

To lose on penalties means that the best two sides were in the final. No one team could get the winner in the 90mins game time, the additional injury time or the extra time. There was only one way.

Do I believe we should have won? Yes I absolutely do. But not because I am blaming the 3 missed penalties, or the players that kicked them. Because I believe we were a better side. But sport is a game. And that’s why we enjoy it. And you have to accept that if you want to be a part of it.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. We should remember this is for those that stepped up to take on the whole country’s expectation and didn’t only stare into the eyes of the one man between him and the goal, but the eyes of the nation. To blame those that took the chance is ludicrous. These are the same guys that got England to the final. The same guys that were hailed heroes only a few hours before.

But, we shouldn’t allow the hateful and selfish to break our hearts. This romance we have all had the past month has been nothing more than amazing and for the majority, turned into a fully fledged love affair. People smiling, talking, coming together and really truly believing. A team that has been united from the start and really carved a different type of game; one that is based on morals, identity, diversity, inclusion and most of all, pride for being English and representing what England is about.

This competition has been the tonic the country needed and it has proven why it is known as the beautiful game. We just need ‘fans’ to stop making it ugly.

A momentous day. I strongly believe that this Euro2020 squad led by Southgate has won so much more than a piece of silverware. Football did come home. It came home to all of us that if you can believe, work together and be kind great things can and will happen.

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#euros2021 #Euro2020Final #england #itscominghome