Ray Parlour: It’s no joke to miss out on playing in World Cup

As the world of football is trying to digest the breaking news that Spain have only gone and sacked their gaffer on the very eve of the World Cup, a few of us happen to find ourselves sitting in the affable company of a man who also famously missed out on the Mundial, but for a very different reason.

Arsenal cult hero Ray Parlour — AKA ‘The Romford Pele’ — is, for probably only the millionth time in his life, recalling the bizarre tale of how a wisecrack backfired so spectacularly, it effectively cost him his chance of playing in the finals in France in 1998.

The villain of the piece is Glenn Hoddle, the former Spurs playmaker and one-time England manager whose idiosyncratic belief system would ultimately see him lose that job because of his views on the transmigration of souls.