Rome Wasn't Built in a Day, Chapter E; Racked with nervous tension and discomfort
The appointment of Bobby Robson as the England manager would change the fortunes of the national team, but it would take a long time to get there and there would certainly be stumbles on the way.
e. Racked with nervous tension and discomfort
There has probably never been a more obvious choice for a vacant managerial position than Bobby Robson was for the England job in 1982. He’d been overlooked five years earlier, but had spent those intervening years productively, his Ipswich Town team winning the FA Cup in 1978 and consoling themselves over losing the 1981 championship race to Aston Villa by winning the UEFA Cup. Shortly before the 1982 finals, he’d even managed an England B-team in Iceland when the team was scheduled to play two games in two different countries in two days.
But Robson’s first two years were essentially a failure, to the point that he offered his resignation to the FA in 1983, only to have it turned down. England failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championships, another eight-team tournament for which only qualifying group winners would go through. Held to a 2-2 draw by Denmark in Copenhagen in their first match, England started winning matches - even beating Luxembourg 9-0 before the end of 1982 - but when Denmark returned to Wembley in September 1983 and won 1-0, England were out in all bar name.
Denmark deservedly went to the finals and lit it up, the start of a generation that would end with them becoming the surprise champions of Europe. By the start of 1984, there were few signs of England doing the same. This year also brought the end of the Home Internationals, though the annual England vs Scotland game would continue to hang around until the end of the decade.
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