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Football fans tuning in to the full replay of Euro 96, which started with England’s boring 1-1 draw with Switzerland last night, will be in luck for the rest of the month for the first time.
With Euro 2020 on file, ITV has decided to quench the thirst for summer football by showing every game of that hedonistic summer.
Fortunately, it got better after that disappointing start at Wembley, but for those fans who were too young or not to enjoy the summer of 1996, it will be a revelation for a wonderful summer and also another sign of how fast football is moving. .
This was the first European Championship tournament to include 16 teams and came after the Premier League season that had seen Manchester United crowned champion for the third time in four years.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s team was the dominant force in what is now the world’s richest and most powerful league, yet only three of the 353 players (Germany was allowed to call an additional man due to injury) were playing to football from his club at Old Trafford when the tournament started.
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To put this in context two years later, at the 1998 World Cup, there were eight United players on duty and eight again at Euro 2000. The 2014 World Cup was the peak for United’s representation in major tournaments, with 14.
However, that number at Euro 96 could easily have been four and if it had been England he could have won the tournament. For England there was no Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Andy Cole or David Beckham, while the tournament lacked Wales from Ryan Giggs and the Republic of Ireland from Roy Keane.
But if the events had worked differently eight years before Euro 96 began, Paul Gascoigne may have been representing United during the tournament. It remains the greatest ‘what if’ of the Ferguson era, perhaps the greatest unknown in English football’s last three decades.
Ferguson thought he had his man when Gascoigne left Newcastle in 1988, only for the Geordie talisman to change his mind and move to Tottenham Hotspur. His star would shine bright but briefly, at Euro 96 he had been in Lazio and returned to the Rangers, but his impact was now bright but brief, his off-field issues took up more discussion than his talents on the field.
If I had opted for Old Trafford instead of White Hart Lane, everything could have worked differently. This was before Ferguson restored United to the top of the English game and before he earned his reputation as perhaps the best young player manager ever. If he had taken Gascogine under his protection, his career could have been very different. It is a fascinating moment of sliding doors.
For Ferguson, losing the English midfielder was a particular disappointment.
“The greatest regret would be to miss Paul Gascoigne,” he said.
“With all the Geordies here at the time and Newcastle only two and a half hours away, you know it was a mistake to go to London.”
“I will always remember during my first full season going to St James’ Park after receiving these advance reports of this chubby local boy we needed to keep an eye on.
“He had real talent, the boy. He wiped out the three I put against him that day: Bryan Robson, Remi Moses and Norman Whiteside. He beat us 2-1 with one hand.
(Image: Getty)
“There is no question that he and Wayne Rooney are the most talented players this country has produced in 20 years.”
Gascoigne soon realized that he could also have made the wrong decision.
“It was a great missed opportunity,” he said previously. “Obviously I worked with a great manager at Terry Venables, don’t get me wrong, but I only think about the players my age when I had the opportunity to sign up for [United] and what they have accomplished.
“He is not only on the field, but also outside the field. [Fergie] he not only works with them at the club, he works with them when they are not at the club. “
Gascoigne made headlines in the lead up to Euro 96 for dentists’ antics on a pre-tournament trip to Hong Kong and then cover news after his brilliant goal against Scotland. He lived up to a stud far from putting England in the final with a golden goal against Germany.
Euro 96 was the last major Gascoigne tournament. He won just 57 caps from England, a criminally low number for a player of his talent, as Ferguson mentioned earlier.
If a 21-year-old Gascoigne signed with Ferguson in 1988, then it could have worked differently. We will never know if the Scotsman could have tamed Geordie’s wild side, but his record with young players was generally excellent.
Of course, not all of the players he managed could be tamed, and Gascoigne’s excess may simply have been too difficult to manage. But he often seemed like a player who needed the right guidance and some control. Playing on a team as exciting and successful as United’s could also have focused the mind.
Sadly, we’ll never know if Ferguson’s guide could have transformed Gascoigne, but Euro 96 offers another glimpse of just how brilliant he was when he was at his best. Thinking of him in United’s midfield under Ferguson is tempting, but it will always have to remain a dream.
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