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

[WhenTheDustSettles]

Do other countries have the same sense of entitlement to winning the World Cup as we do? All this 30, now 60, years of hurt thing, all the comments about how useless England are, that's gone on for as long as I can remember, how rubbish the managers are etc.

I've never researched it but we can't be the only country to have only won one, or zero World Cups.

Is it unique to England? Or our supporters, I doubt the team has the same sense of entitlement.

No one thinks we're entitled to win it, we have had a good chance in the last few tournaments and I think people are always going to be disappointed when you get to a final or semi final and don't win it.

"It's Coming Home" is just one of those great songs that gets everyone in the mood, why wouldn't we sing it/say it? It's an absolute banger! And originally it was about us hosting the 96 Euros, not about us winning the world cup.

It’s just I feel like if England actually won, they would barely crack a smile and would be like ‘proper order’

You've got to be joking 😂

Ever heard of Andrés Escobar?

That song 😂it really rubs some people up the wrong way.

My friend is Irish but was living in London with his wife for years, his child came home from nursery school and said ‘it’s coming home’ and he got the shock of his life. The house was on the market immediately and they moved over to Ireland asap.

The World Cup has only ever been won by 8 countries. So it makes sense that the vast majority of the countries who compete obviously wish their team would win but don’t have the same level of investment in whether they do. That’s why there’s not the same “entitlement” from somewhere like Denmark or Algeria.

The whole “30 years of hurt” thing is obviously exaggeration for the song. But England do have good enough players to stand a chance at winning so it’s frustrating when we don’t get as far as you’d expect/hope.

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

I think some people are taking this song too seriously!

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 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 😳

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!

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 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.

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!

@TheVeryThingI've drawn France in our family sweepstake

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?)

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!