Is England’s World Cup entitlement unique, or common in other countries?

That didn't take long.

It’s the media. They overhype it in the run up to the competitions. Football commentators “always” mention 1966, and even in matches England is not playing in they “always” refer to players as the “insert any English Premier League team” player, always bring it back to England. That grates in the other UK nations. Then they turn on the tram when they don’t win. I think the ordinary England fan simply supports their team.

To be fair the Brits have invented quite a lot of modern day sports. Football, cricket, rugby , snooker , darts, formula one. Probably more! We don’t sing our own praises enough imo
(other countries have invented other sports too disclaimer)

I’d read somewhere that football started on these shores with either Vikings or Anglo Saxons, or both - playing a game with the heads of their slain enemies!

Made sense to me, but then I’ve never been much of a footie fan.

Why are so many people missing the point of the "its coming home" lyric in Three Lions?

The lyric was about England hosting Euro 96. England was the birthplace of football. While undeniably not its most successful exponents, the birthplace has a fair claim of being the home. It wasn't an presumption that England would win the tournament.

No one seems to question Scotland and specifically St Andrews as being the home of golf. Nor should there be. No one calls that arrogant.

I don't think there is an entitlement. There is a frustration that despite knocking on the door and being in the top 3 or 4 nations for most of that now 60 years of hurt, England hasn't gotten over the line. I think the feeling of arrogance comes more from inferiority complexes from other home nations.

In everyday conversation, "entitlement" often describes a personality trait. A sense of entitlement is the belief that you are owed certain privileges, respect, or material things, regardless of whether you have earned them.

I don't think most fans have a sense of privilege or an over developed sense that respect is owed @WhenTheDustSettles apart from perhaps the Reform, Tommy Robinson types who I would completely distance myself from anyway.

High expectations given recent tournament performances and quality of players, sure.

Much higher than say, 15 years ago when we were at best embarrassing and absolutely rife with club rivalry and poor leadership. I couldn't cheer for England while the likes of John Terry played for them and had no expectations, and the tabloids were absolutely disgraceful and mental, following players and their families around constantly. In fact I preferred if they got knocked out early so I could just relax and enjoy the tournament.

But since 2017 it has been much better and I hope Tuchel can build on the excellent foundation laid by Southgate. I have hopes and expectations but no entitlement whatsoever.

I had a row with one of my then teen DNs during the 2018 world cup when the song had blasted back into the charts as they tried to claim it was a song "their generations" had discovered.

Considering I bought that song on cassette single from good old Wollies years before they were even born, I took exception to their possessiveness.

But I now can't believe that song is 30 or that I am now so old!

OP, yes most (all countries) have the equivalent songs and expectations- even small countries dream of being Giant Killers. (Ireland beating Italy in New York, anyone?)

We will never forget Italia'90, I was 16 and the whole country went wild. Fans who went over were getting credit union loans to stay on after we got through the group stage. My football-loving son is 18 and is desperate to see Ireland in a World Cup.

What entitlement?

Why shouldn't we win, as we have one of the most competitive and highly paid leagues in the world and have been playing the game professionally since the late 1800s?

We have the same population as France, I think we should have had an extra star on the shirt by now, in my lifetime and I'm 50. That's a reasonable expectation given all the bloody money in the sport in this country, not entitlement.

Ps I support England as that’s my nationality, then whoever I have in the sweepstake 😂
I also want the teams of my clubs players to do well too.

I remember wanting Ireland to do so well that year! They were amazing and the excitement around their run was unbelievable!

I think the top 10 or so in the world go into this with high expectations. I think entitlement is pushing it.

I always had the mindset down to England being the birthplace of football. The English basically invented modern football, so the phrase used in the song is “it’s coming home”. I think the English long for it more because to have invented it yet then only to be top of the game once in World Cup history is quite a disappointment.

My Dads irish i remember him dancing around the lounge when ireland got through to the quater finals in 1990 on a penalty shoot out.

I’ve never seen any sense of entitlement about winning, what am I missing?

@TheVeryThingI've drawn France in our family sweepstake

This. The song was written for the 1996 Euros which took place in England (final played at Wembley). Hence "Football's comin' 'ome". The dream of winning something big on our own soil!

I think the sense of entitlement comes from the media (or sections of it), rather than fans. As an Irish person living in England many years ago I had the best of intentions to support England in the World Cup, after Ireland were knocked out. DH and I had to turn off the match after 10 minutes due to the commentary. I'd expect it to be biased but the attitude was that England were the rightful winners and the other teams were just there to make up the numbers/ spoil the party.
It does go beyond optimism or support for the team at times, but if you're English you won't necessarily see it.
Anyway, I've drawn England in our family pool so I will be wishing them the very best of luck. I hope all the England and Scotland fans enjoy the next few weeks.

Our one World Cup win is one more than some teams have won, and "3 Lions" is an absolute banger.
Can't we just be happy and optimistic for a couple of weeks every 4 years?

I did like it when Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds performed the song in some TV show in 2022 - maybe the Royal Variety Performance?

They sang the first chorus - "56 years of hurt... for the men's team!"; then the next verse was "14 weeks of hurt... for the women's team!" or however long it had been since they had actually won the most recent tournament. The idea that you would count the time of 'hurt' because nobody had won a tournament that wasn't currently unnderway!

I don't think I’ve eye rolled so many times in a thread before.

It’s a silly song, not to be taken seriously. Most England fans hope they’ll win but realistically know they almost certainly won’t.

It’s fine to call England the home of football - as I imagine the USA would call it the home of baseball. Nobody thinks England are more entitled to win though. Do people really have a problem with thIs stuff 😳

Is it English people in general though or the English media whipping people up into a frenzy.

I don't know any real life people who go on like that.

I think some people are taking this song too seriously!

I thought the original song " its coming home " was written because Euro 96 tournament was held in England ?----