Does anyone else get a sneaking feeling about Roy’s England?
But this, after all, is a season in which conventional managerial norms appear to have counted for little across the water.
Roberto Mancini stands on the brink of glory despite, in his dealings with Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli, laughing in the face of every sensible technique managers usually employ to keep morale on an even keel.
And then there is Roberto di Matteo, parachuted in as a big brother to placate the schoolyard bullies that wedgied poor AVB out of town, he has steered the mob to Wembley and Munich seemingly by doing little more than ruffling the scamps’ cheeky heads and letting them get on with it.
Roy’s huge asset is, of course, that it will be impossible for the press to turn on him this summer, because they are already dead set against him. Ordinarily, England go into these things fearing nobody. This time they fear everything and everyone — and it could be the making of them.
If Denmark could leave the beach to win it in ’92, England and Roy — with similar levels of expectation and preparation — can’t be discounted.




