Gareth Southgate’s “Impossible Dream” brings back memories of the famous Wembley victory

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I wrote a book called The Impossible Dream. It was the story of Ian Porterfield, the scorer of Sunderland’s incredible winning goal in the 1973 FA Cup final at Wembley, when a Second Division club defeated Don Revie’s mighty Leeds United in one of football’s greatest upsets.

I had to think about this as I imagined Gareth Southgate and England trying to become European champions after getting off to such a bad start that the whole nation was proclaiming it impossible and plastic cups were thrown at the manager.

But a tactical change of system, a reduction in the fear of a siege mentality and a determination to win in any way possible have made the impossible possible. These players don’t care about prettiness. This is candy floss.

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Mind you, Spain, by far the best team in the tournament, is blotting out the sunlight as we look to Berlin and Sunday’s final, but so too was Leeds, with Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter, Peter Lorimer, Allan Clarke, Johnny Giles and Eddie Gray, who cast a huge shadow over Wembley on that amazing day 51 years ago.

They erected a statue to Bob Stokoe for what he achieved against all odds. Would they do something for Southgate if he achieved the dream?

Gratitude is, of course, a quality that doesn’t last long in football. Stokoe were forced to leave Sunderland soon after promotion after failing to win a single game in their first nine top-flight matches, and the greatest of them all, World Cup winner Alf Ramsey, was knighted despite his achievements and eventually sacked by the FA. Football is a funny old game, as Jimmy Greaves always said, but there isn’t much to laugh about.