The Decibel - Pitch and Power: How the ’90 World Cup captured England’s heart

Episode Date: July 19, 2026

Pitch and Power is The Globe and Mail's World Cup podcast. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s England was a country under strain, marked by industrial decline, social unrest and sharp political divides. In that climate, English soccer became a national problem rather than a point of pride. Stadiums crumbled, hooliganism spread and tragedy struck at Bradford, Heysel, and Hillsborough. The game felt like a relic: toxic, unsafe, unloved. Then, in the summer of 1990, something shifted. This episode traces how the 1990 World Cup helped detoxify English soccer and reframe national identity. We look at how an improbable tournament run became a cultural moment that opened the door to Britpop on the radio, “Cool Britannia” in the headlines and the Premier League era that followed. This is the story of a sport crawling out of the wreckage and a country finding a new way to love its national team. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, it's Cheryl. After 103 matches, a tournament spanning more than a month, it all comes down to today. The World Cup final. Argentina or Spain will write their names into history as champions. But we all know that the impact of the World Cup goes well beyond the pitch. One of the Globe and Mail's new podcasts, pitch and power, how soccer shapes everything, is all about how the sport impacts politics, culture, and history. All-Tournament host Owen O'Callaghan has reported on the beautiful game, from how Canada's 1986 team explains the Canadian psyche,

to the rise of the game on the African continent, to how dictatorship countries have weaponized the World Cup. Today, we're bringing you an episode about England, how one tournament in 1990 changed the national identity and attitude towards soccer, and how the sport went from something toxic to a renewed love affair. You can listen to all the episodes of pitch and power, how soccer shapes everything wherever you listen to podcasts. Hope you enjoy it.

Sometimes, when things are really dark, when things are a struggle, the best thing you can do is find some distraction, however temporary, however silly. And in the 1980s, in the dark and struggling England, there was a TV show called Spitting Image. launched in 1984 and the show pulled in

15 million viewers at its peak think of a cross between the Muppets and last week tonight with John Oliver a scuring and skating piece of satire but all delivered by puppets and those puppets were caricatures of real people it was creative genius

because you can get away with anything if it's puppets even relentless, merciless and priceless criticisms of the Prime Minister. There are many ways people can help themselves without becoming a burden on the state.

For example, if the unemployed are hungry, why don't they eat their own bodies? All that good meat going to waste, it makes me mad. One has to be firm and resolute. Government isn't a charity. You can't explain England in the 1980s

without Margaret Thatcher. She was a revolutionary, the very first woman to hold the office of British Prime Minister, an advocate of the free market and privatisation, two things that are all around us right now. But Thatcher also broke a nation. Proudly swinging the wrecking ball, she pulverised, shipyards, coal mines,

and took particular pleasure in dismantling the influence of labour unions. By pulling the heart and soul from vulnerable communities, she brought a country to its knees, and the divisions that were unleashed under her policies have never really gone away. Caught on the crossfire in the 1980s was another problematic industry Thatcher felt belonged in the past.

Soccer. The chairman of Tottenham Hotspur has been called in to see the sports minister after yet another night of football violence on the continent involving British fans. Thirty football supporters are still in hospital, many of them with knife wounds after spurs and Fairnard supporters. ...had been chipped off that hundreds of English supporters

were heading for Scotland for the sole purpose of causing trouble. They were shadowed for three miles from their city centre to have to keep the peace. Later this year, a national football unit is to be formed at Scotland Yard, linking up with other forces throughout Europe. The first round in the war against the thug has already started. Through the previous decade, it had begun to crumble, lost in the chaos of rampant hooliganism, escalating racial tensions and stadiums that were disintegrating. The game itself was uninspiring, dreary, and a perfect metaphor for the political and social climate of the day.

As a depressing decade took hold in the years that followed, things got a lot worse for English soccer. In May 1985, 56 fans were killed at Valley Parade Stadium in Bradford when a fire broke out. in a dilapidated wooden stand. Later that same month, 39 supporters died at the Heysol Stadium in Brussels before the European Cup final, between Liverpool and Juventus, when fans clashed and a flimsy wall collapsed.

And in 1989, there was the Hillsborough disaster, when 97 Liverpool supporters tragically lost their lives. Soccer in England was toxic. Thatcher wanted nothing to do with it. It represented the old, battered and broken. But as the country lost itself in a catalogue of crises, something happened in the summer of 1990. This is the story of how a World Cup changed the landscape,

not only for English soccer, but for the entire nation. This is pitch and power, how soccer shapes everything from the globe and mail. I'm Owen O'Callaghan. On today's episode, England's New Order, We explore how the 1990 World Cup captured the hearts of a country in the midst of prolonged economic, political and social upheaval. We'll delve into how England instigated

a new purpose and belief in itself, with soccer finally moving on from the darkness of the past and paving the way for cool Britannia, Britpop and the swagger and optimism of a new decade. That's all coming up after the break. Defender 110, one vehicle, Every possibility, with a rugged body design ready for your next journey and purposeful, durable materials throughout, Defender 110 is built to handle it all without compromise.

From weekday streets to weekend escapes, it's built to do it all. Defender 110 Embrace the Impossible. Learn more at landrover.ca. You might be familiar with a 1987 film called With Nail and I, written and directed by Bruce Robinson. You are cordially invited to spend a carefree weekend in the English countryside.

Fast in the warm sunshine. We've gone on holiday by mistake. The story is centred on two unemployed actors who live very pathetic lives in London and who decide that the perfect remedy to their malaise is a holiday. And so they decamp to the Lake District and all kinds of inevitable mishaps ensue.

It's a really black comedy. And there's this inescapable sadness that runs throughout. There is a famous moment when the character of Withnail, played superbly by Richard E. Grant, walks through the park, gulping on a bottle of wine,

as relentless rain lashes down from the sky. It's majestic whole roof fretted with golden fire. Why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.

What a piece of work. With Nail Nye is said in 1969, but it's a cult reference point for 80s, England, when there was general disillusionment with everything around you, when there seemed no hope, no opportunities and no future, and when you leaned into anything, for inspiration. That could be tuning in to Top of the Pops on a Saturday night and seeing Morrissey with his decorative, hearing aid, singing about being miserable. Or the inspiration could come from a trip to the local

soccer stadium. And these were not adventurous, long-planned excursions. It was the local meeting point, an extension of the factory, the pub, the same faces, the same conversations, the same communities. The games were, in many ways, a kind of religious event. The fans gathered in prayer and sang in great unison in adoration of the Almighty. Maybe that was Kenny Daglish, Brian Robson, or Glenn Hoddle. It broke the monotony. For a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon, you got to detach from the threat of unemployment, the likelihood of pending strike action,

or increased inflation. When we look at that kind of history of English football, it's very much tied to the rise and then the fall of the UK's own industrial belt. That's David Weber, senior lecturer in sports business and politics at the University Campus of Football Business in Manchester. He's written extensively about the cultural, social and historical impact of soccer in England.

When we think about where its major centres of power are, think about Liverpool, Merseyside, in particular, Manchester, you think of the Midlands, think about the north-east and Newcastle, Sunderland. Those big, big footballing cities experience widespread unemployment, increased levels of social deprivation. Earlier, we mentioned Margaret Thatcher and what she wanted England to be. Thatcher took office in 1979. She had persuaded voters that her Tory government would correct spiraling inflation,

relentless strike action, and ensure the country strode confidently into a new decade. But by January 1982, over 3 million people were unemployed. That's over 12% of the workforce, one in every 8%. people. Thatcher had a grand vision for the country, and she didn't care for anyone else's input. After all, she referred to herself as a conviction politician. The lady's not returning is another of her famous remarks. Effectively, her political ideology was simple. Every person for themselves. It's your divine right to be selfish. Society is not equal. If others are left behind, it says more about them. If government policy is to try and improve everything.

everyone's lives, that's socialism. And Thatcher hated socialism. Fatcher believed in a New England, no desolate, depressing Dickensian industry, no mines, no shipyards, those menial jobs for the men, those uneducated men with the dirty fingernails and pints in the pub, they would soon be erased. The future was capitalism, the future was the city of London, a global hub for money, for ambition, for opportunity. Nobody would remember the good Samaritan if he had only good intentions, Thatcher said. He had money as well. In the 1980s, football, and when we say football, I think specifically France,

they were viewed as socially a relic. They were not part of the Britain that Thatcher wanted. Britain's future lay in the financial markets, free markets, free trains, modernity. football representing and football fans represented an anachronism in this sense. They were factory workers. They were dockers. They were minors. In this sense, football supporters were viewed as having no future.

In 1984, Margaret Thatcher went to war with the trade unions and won. After an arduous battle, a never-ending strike that paralyzed the country and lasted into the spring of 1985. The government had announced plans to close 20 coal mines, but Union leader Arthur Scargole said it was only the start, that Thatcher would close more than 70 in the coming years. The government denied the claim, but Cabinet papers released in 2014 confirmed that Scargle was correct.

The closures meant tens of thousands of jobs would be erased and specific regional communities would be decimated. When the strike ended, it was a huge victory for Thatcher. But by the middle of 1985, she had a recurrence of a particularly irritating issue. English soccer. A fire at Bradford's Valley Parade Stadium was a tough story to massage. The deaths of 56 fans had been because of a condemned wooden stand. This story wasn't about violence or hooliganism, but stadium safety.

However, the government was able to dodge that inconvenient detail. Because 18 days later, at the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus at the Heisel Stadium in Brussels, there was another harrowing soccer tragedy and a suitable narrative was a lot easier to pedal. The death occurred shortly before the kickoff when Liverpool fans, it said, invaded terraces occupied by Juventus supporters. Those who died were trampled to death after terracing collapsed in the stampede. to escape the trouble.

Police said both British and Italian fans are among the day. Football stadiums, they were designed to control. They weren't designed for the welfare of supporters. And that certainly then becomes indicative at Hillsborough. But also if we think about other tragedies that took place at Heisle and indeed at Valley Parade in Bradford, is that these were stadiums that were quite simply just not fit for human habitation. Police reinforcements were called in to help Red Cross and doctors tend the

injured. Mrs Thatcher has just said those responsible have brought shame and disgrace to their country and to football. That's the end of this newsflash. This was being hosted in a stadium which should never have been anywhere near in contention for hosting such a prestigious event. You know, you had a stadium that was basically built of cinder blocks. There was chicken wire separating out the supporters. It was poorly policed. So you had a sense of, you had essentially, a perfect storm. And that for Thatcher, Thatcher immediately pulled English clubs out of European club competition. The final, as the marquee European club fixture of the year,

was broadcast live on the BBC. Instead of images of players, everyone watching was now served up violence instead. And those kinds of things, stay with you. And it helps to shape Thatcher's narrative around, well, these are football fans, and they should be treated as essentially enemies of the state in the same way that we would treat communists, in the same way that we would treat trade unionists, in the same way that we would treat anybody who has the utmost disrespect for law and order. Following the Heysel disaster, English clubs were banned from playing any games in Europe for five years,

not even a friendly. It was a band that Margaret Thatcher supported enthusiastic. But that didn't fix the stadiums in England, and English Soccer's darkest hour was still to come. That was the Hillsborough Stadium disaster of 1989. So finally, on what started out as one of football's happiest days, turned to tragedy at Hillsborough in the Liverpool-Noddingham Forest Cup semifinal. 53 fans have known to have died, crushed to death as a section of the Liverpool end became overcrowded. The FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was abandoned after six minutes. By that stage, fans had streamed onto the field, desperate to bring wider attention to the deadly crush that was happening in the Leppings Lane end of the ground. 94 Liverpool's supporters died that Saturday afternoon.

Another died a few days later. Two more fans who had suffered severe brain damage died in 1993 and 2021 respectively. 37 of the victims were teenagers. The game was overseen by South Yorkshire Police, and in the immediate aftermath, they began peddling a completely false version of events to gullible tabloid media. The police said the tragedy was the result of hooliganism, drunken soccer fans looking for trouble.

An official inquiry in 1990 found otherwise and ruled that South Yorkshire Police failed to fulfil their duties. An initial inquest delivered a verdict of accidental death, and families of the victims were forced to wait until 2016 for real justice. A second inquest determined the victims had been unlawfully killed, owing to a litany of failings by the police. the police failed they didn't take responsibility they weren't concerned about

the welfare of those Liverpool supporters hence the reason why like okay so we need to get our story straight here fans have rushed the gate it was there was troublemakers so what we're going to do well we're going to start breathalising alcohol contributory factor start breathalising

9 10 11 year old kids it's just astonishing this kind of the way in which that narrative was already in place, but it's like, we've got to reproduce that narrative. English soccer was at an all-time low. With Thatcher desperately failing to meet her objectives from a decade earlier and feeling the electorate's resentment in the opinion polls, the decade had been a dismal one for the country. Wars, bombs, deaths. And Thatcher had always pushed for self over collective. Now, with society so bad,

craving a sense of togetherness and solidarity, it lacked any foundational materials to build upon. They'd all been eradicated. After all, community was not part of the Thatcher lexicon. But this is a decade of disaster. It's a decade of death. So many of these disasters that say Hillsborough, Kingscross, they could have been avoided. Had there been a basic care for life. Almost like that social contract between the state and the citizen had been torn apart. Because it was the market that decided.

At the start of this episode, we talked about finding a distraction from the darkness, anything to pull you back from the edge. Weeks after Hillsborough, on May 2nd, 1989, Manchester Pioneers the Stone Roses released their debut album. England was emotionally overcast, but from the first notes,

the album sounded like a slight break in the cloud cover. A new attitude was simmering, softly. This was the rise of Acid House and rave, the cult of the club, the DJ, the Pills. It was a strange feeling. Bereft of connection, people were finding new ways of collective joy. In the UK, it was dubbed the second,

summer of love onto its similarities with the counterculture high point of 1967. And somehow the national soccer team, who had qualified for another World Cup, would find themselves immersed in this new era. And in many ways, they were responsible for the rehabilitation of a nation. That's coming up right after the break. Adventure is better when everyone comes along. Defender 130 is designed for bigger journeys, with available three-row seating for up to eight and up to 89 cubic feet of cargo space. Built with a rugged body design

and durable materials throughout, it's ready to carry more without ever compromising capability because the destination matters, but who you bring with you matters more. Defender 130. Space to explore together. Learn more at landrover.com.

What have we been talking about? Well, I know what I've been talking about. What have you been talking about? The job? The job? You think I'll be this upset about a stupid poxie job interview? We lost at home to Derby today, we've blown it. God, Paul, when are you going to wake up to yourself?

Wake up to myself? I'm bloody awake. I wish I wasn't. That's a scene from a British movie called Fever Pitch. Not to be confused with the American version starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, that's all about the Red Sox. The less said about that one the better.

But we do need to say something about the original. It was based on the memoir of a long-suffering Arsenal supporter named Nick Hornby, and the book detail his painstaking fandom of the London Club and how soccer, for some reason, had defined his key life moments. It's an acclaimed piece of writing and hugely important in the context of a shifting narrative relating to soccer in England. Earlier in this episode, we delved into why the game was destined for the scrap heap in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher's guidance. But Hornby and this book were among the reasons soccer began to flex its cultural muscles. Up until that point, the extent of soccer books were those end-of-year annuals that you'd find in your Christmas talking.

Fever pitch was a serious piece of literature. It's about obsession and it's about belonging, really. That's Amy Lawrence, a soccer writer with the athletic. We spoke to Amy in our fourth podcast episode about the French national team, which was a huge part of her journalistic beat. But we're talking to her today because in 1990, she was a university student in England and remembers this period very well. And I think it struck such a chord with so many people. Anybody who finds their thing in life, that thing that takes them out of the mundane, it was fantastic to find football could be finding its way into those worlds.

Books and art and music. I mean, even New Order's song for the night. 1990 World Cup, which by Miles, probably the coolest World Cup song ever because it's New Order. Ah, yes. Thanks, Amy. The perfect segue. So we kind of have to, don't we? It would be rude not to.

Okay, let's contextualize. That is World in Motion, the official World Cup anthem for the England team for the 1990 tournament. They're singing it alongside New Order. Now, the Musos can step aside or, Fast forward this bit, because they'll know all this stuff already. New Order sprouted from Joy Division, the post-punk Manchester band with the tormented Ian Curtis's singer and songwriter. With his dark lyrics, a reflection of his own personal issues,

the group seemed to perfectly capture the fractured state of English society at the time. But interestingly, in the 1979 general election, Ian Curtis, who was anti-establishment of the core, actually voted for Margaret Thatcher. The following year, Curtis died by suicide and the other band members went on to form New Order. Here's David Weber once again on why all of this is pretty fascinating. Joy Division had this very brutal, dark sound. But the transformation from Joy Division's in New Order is almost completely contradictory.

It's just something, all of a sudden, the same musicians except for the late Ian Curtis. produce these, essentially, these disco records. You know, you think of true faith and Blue Monday and bizarre love triangle and so forth. And it's just like, wow, so uplifting, so positive. So you kind of think we talk about the gloom of the 1980s. New Order provides some light in the midst of order this. There is a real sense of positivity of really being uplifted. And I've heard this argued.

and I think there's something in this that that house movement sort of almost kills off hooliganism. There isn't that violence because everybody's loved up in the clubs. How can you fight to New Order? It's just so hugely uplifting.

It's songs that are meant to be played in clubs. So in a sense, New Order provides a perfect choice to almost soundtrack the transformation of English football. Official World Cup anthems didn't usually carry this level of cool and there was also special significance to the video.

One of England's high-profile players was John Barnes, a dazzling Liverpool winger. He'd been born in Jamaica and moved to London when he was 12, emerging at a time when race, tensions and violence were one of those social ills that punctuated England in the 1970s and 80s, Barnes constantly faced abuse wherever he played. He also constantly had bananas thrown at him when he was on the pitch. At one point, during World in Motion, Barnes begins to rap. Filmed in black and white, with Barnes standing in front of large council tower blocks in the

middle of industrial wasteland. It's a huge social and political statement. Elsewhere, vocalist Bernard Sumner is wearing a now iconic baby blue England away jersey with his dark sunglasses and overall look. It's soccer fashion. The jersey is an accessory. And that had never been the case before. It felt like something was connecting. And I suppose it was It's probably a precursor to the way that football is now, sort of one of the most dominant cultural experiences on earth. It's kind of remarkable how strong those ripples are now. It's everywhere.

It's absolutely everywhere. The 1990 World Cup was played in Italy, and that was significant. Since the Heistel disaster in 1985, English teams were banned from competing in European tournaments. So English audiences, so used to watching their favourite clubs go and compete in the hallowed stadiums of major European cities, had been starved of that sense of exoticism for five years. The BBC saw that as a major opportunity in how they cover the tournament. In many ways, they leaned largely into Italian cliches, but because of that feeling of disconnection,

audiences were spellbound. Everything about this World Cup, the locations, the history, the art, the music, it all fed into an alluring and hugely seductive package. That first opening matchup when Cameroon beat Argentina, it almost presages this idea that this World Cup signifies that nothing is going to be the same again. Yeah, I remember watching the opening game on telly in Shambi. Sheffield with two mates. It was just, it was so ridiculous watching Cameroon B, Argentina and Maradonna.

And we were so excited. And we were in a little bit of a lull post-exams and before results with kind of not much going on. And we literally just looked at each other and went, let's go. We went straight to the university students, students' union travel agent, got train tickets to Turin, grabbed all the money we had, which I think was around about a couple hundred quid, and went to the World Cup for a week. And it was just incredible. So I am an absolute Italian 90 fundamentalist.

It changed my life. Four years earlier at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, England, led by coach Bobby Robson, had reached the quarterfinals, with Diego Maradonna's infamous Hand of God, proving crucial in Argentina's eventual to win. But ahead of this tournament, Robson was under huge pressure. The European Championship in 1988 saw England suffer the humiliation of a group stage exit. And in 1990, it was a tough start.

They drew with the Republic of Ireland, they drew with the Netherlands, and finally picked up a 1-0 win against Egypt, thanks to a goal from centreback Mark Wright. But the entire mood changes in the knockout round clash against Belgium. The win against Belgium, I think that that's a pivotal moment because that is a wow. England has pulled that out of the back again against the very talented Belgian side. It's Gascoyne shaping to take it and chipped in.

That goal from David Platt was essentially created by a surging, long-busting run from midfielder Paul Gascoyne. This was the moment the man who came to be known as Gaza burst onto the global stage. Gascoigne's story is important to the wider theme of this episode. At the start of the show, David spoke about the traditional working-class hotbeds for soccer in England, one of them being the northeast. Gascoigne was from there, Gateshead, about 10 minutes drive outside of Newcastle.

Owing to Margaret Thatcher's various policies, Gateshead was one of those pockets of the country devastated by economic upheaval. Gascoigne's father was a hod carrier, a menial labourer, before a brain hemorrhage ensured he never worked again. And now Gascoigne, a star with Tottenham Hotspur, was setting the world alight. He was a huge reason why global audiences suddenly had a soft spot for Robinson's side. He was charismatic. And again, it seemed like a one-fingered salute to Thatcher and everything she embodied.

You know, we've got Paul Gascoigne, who is a, working-class lad, John Barnes, immigrant, arguably, along with Gascoigne, England's most talented players. But they stand out so much from Thatcher's Britain at that time, a time when the working classes are being denigrated, where racism was rife. Gascoigne played a pivotal role in a spectacular quarter-final against Cameroon. England took the lead with another goal from David Platt. but then surrendered it as the Africans dazzled and danced their way to two excellent goals of their own. But striker Gary Lineker scored from the penalty spot with seven minutes remaining to force extra time.

And then Gascoigne delivered yet another exceptional moment, threading the eye of the needle to find Lindner with a through ball, he was unceremoniously fouled before stepping up to score his second penalty of the game and booking England a place in the semi-finals where they would face Germany. But there's a resilience there. There's a tenacity to that England performance. And I think we could probably locate this, if it's not too much of a stretch,

to that wider conversation that we've had around the determination of the working classes. This isn't going to go the way that people think it's going to go. We are going to upend that narrative. That change of narrative, extended to fan behaviour too. Italian police were extremely nervous about England's supporters arriving en masse,

so too was Thatcher and her government. The threat of violence and tragedy hung in the air, and while there were some clashes, particularly before England's group game against the Dutch, the extreme violence never materialised. David mentioned something interesting earlier, the arrival of acid house and dance music, that it washed over you

and cleared out the anger, contributing to a decrease in hooliganism and fan violence. At Italian 90, the England team was the music. Their personality and energy and success washed over fans and persuaded them that there was something else. Another way. They went to Italy and won friends.

What? Everything you thought you knew about football was slightly challenged in that In that time, in that magical month, it felt like a beautiful summer of love and football love, which there hadn't been football love like that, probably in England since 66, I wouldn't have thought. This was a spirited English side, younger, racially and economically diverse and carefully curated by Bobby Robson. The English cities represented Derby, Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, London, and the makeup of the team.

We spoke about John Barnes earlier, but there was Paul Parker, too, the son of Jamaican immigrants, who, just like Barnes experienced extensive racism while coming through the ranks. Captain Brian Robson and Winger Chris Waddle were both from the Newcastle's surrounding area, just like Gascoigne, Bobby Robson too. In fact, Bobby Robson's father was a coal miner in one of those numerous northeast communities devastated by Thatcher and her policies. She had wanted a New England based on capitalism. But this was the true reflection of a New England.

It was a group of diverse, talented people chasing a dream. There wasn't anything selfish about the mindset. This was collective spirit. Each player was contributing to a greater cause. There is a rediscovery of joy amidst the gloom, amidst the despair of Hillsborough, of Heissel, even indeed the despair of losing your job, and feeling that, do you know what, we're heading into the 21st century, but it looks bleak.

There is no optimism, but Italianity in a sense brings that moment. It's not planned. It's entirely organic. The English weren't violent street hooligans anymore. Against Germany in the semi-final, they were the romantics. And Gascoigne once again was electric. a symbol of the possibilities ahead. His slalming runs, his power and athleticism, his cleverness. When the game went to extra time,

he lost control during another mazy dribble and despairingly lunged at a German player. Yellow card for Paul Gascoigne, which means that if England go into the World Cup final, sadly for Gascoigne, he will not be a part of it. He's already carrying one yellow card. Look at that. Oh my goodness, look at that. Look on his face. He's not far from tears there.

As Gary Lineker comforted him, something extraordinary happened. Gascoigne started to cry. And he just broke and the tears were flooding down and it's even more impactful because of the way Gary Linneker, the camera just catches this moment of Gary Linneker looking over to Bobby Robson, the manager and pointing it and going as he's gone. His head's gone. Like the concern that they had over this fragile, this quite vulnerable lad who happened to be a genius of what he did, but that didn't stop him being vulnerable.

And to see that vulnerability on a football picture at a World Cup when you're English stiff off a lip, you know, or we'll smash your head in type of stuff, those were the two impressions of Englishness. And Gaza showed something completely different. Given toxic masculinity and the stigma that still surrounds men feeling strong enough to be vulnerable and emotional, this Gascoigne moment, with the benefit of hindsight, takes on an incredible significance. It's such a progressive thing. And here's this young man from Newcastle, the personification of everything that Thatcher believed to be wrong with English society, uneducated, provincial, lower than working class.

doing something truly inspiring, being a human being, fragile and imperfect, just like everyone else. I think we talk about those tears, that there's an authenticity there of what this is what the game actually means. And I think that that again speaks to and contradicts this idea that football was this entirely brutal, form, there was a sense that the game is actually about glory and Gascoe in recognising that that one shot at glory of playing in a World Cup finals just being taken away from him. Ultimately, England would lose the semi-final in a penalty shootout and went on to face Italy

in a poignant third-fourth place playoff. The game fell under the shadow of Heisel when so many Juventus fans lost their lives prior to that European Cup final against Liverpool five years earlier. The World Cup encounter in many ways seemed an exorcism of sorts, a commitment to better days ahead.

And at the end, the two sets of players linked arms together. You know, these were symbolic things that really meant a lot in terms of building bridges. And it was just immediately after that, that, really, that the game suddenly took off in a new direction in English football. There was another symbolic moment for English soccer and the entire nation at the end of 1990. Good evening. The Prime Minister states her intention to resign. She says another Cabinet Minister will stand a better chance of winning for the Conservatives. Things began to change after Margaret Thatcher's

resignation as Prime Minister. It was a slow build and some of the institutional dysfunction was difficult to fully shake off. But soccer's place in English society, its impact both economically and socially, that took on a thrilling, audacious revolution. I feel like Italian 90 was the zeitgeist moment

between old football and new football. It became, you know, it was more televised. We had Sky Sports coming in the glitzy rebound at the Premier League. We had foreign players coming in from all over the place and people getting a bit excited about it and slightly less insular. Then we had foreign managers and there was money coming in and it became cool and it sort of integrated a bit more with culture. It was a real zeitgeist moment of change.

The world began to take its cultural cues from England. Nick Hornby released high fidelity's follow-up to fever pitch in 1995. It sold over a million copies. It was the era of global smash hit films like Four Weddings and a funeral. But the result of the indie scene with Danny Boyle's

shallow grave and train spotting. Mike Lee's Oscar-nominated kitchen sink epic secrets and lies and the emergence of figures like Guy Ritchie. Designer Alexander McQueen and models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell revolutionized the global fashion landscape and it wasn't

long before the Spice Girl. would launch their girl power movement. Also, in the mid-90s, a young politician emerged within a reimagined Labour Party. At university, he'd briefly been both a Trotskyite and the singer in a band called Ugly Rumors. Tony Blair served as leader of the opposition

before sweeping to power and taking over his prime minister in 1997. It was the end of the era of conservatism after 18 years. Fittingly, although hardly working class, Blair grew up in the northeast of England in Durham. He was a big soccer fan and cheered for Newcastle United, where Paul Gascoigne had started his career. This era was quite cringe with the benefit of hindsight, dubbed as Cool Britannia, oh dear. But finally, it was something exciting, something that was full of possibilities.

and a sense that this is at last a country that is at ease with itself. There is still the endemic structural problems. There is still inequalities. But socially, culturally, the vanguard, I think, of England's renewal comes through the working classes. So the bands that lead that Brit Pop charge, they're all working class. you know, from Oasis, Blur, Manx Street features, Dever. They are, by and large, for all the bands that I've mentioned then, they come from those kind of working-class roots.

And so this working-class craft changes England, changes Britain, throughout this period. It's not all a champagne supernova in the sky, but with an outpouring of creativity exemplified by the likes of Oasis, led by the Manchester City-obsessed Gallowher brothers Nolan Liam from a single-parent council estate house, there was a melding of English soccer as connective tissue for society. The Britpop songs were anthems, just like the ones sung on terraces.

The biggest gigs took place at hallowed soccer stadiums. The songwriters and performers were from the same backgrounds. They wore the same clothes, they had the same haircuts. The musicians, directors, poets and playwrights all seemed to be soccer fans. English soccer had become, just like music, something soulful, anchored by community, and fueled largely by the working class. Margaret Thatcher was a distant memory.

Next week on Pitchin Power, what a plane full of cash can tell us about Africa, colonization, and how the cultural and political history of a continent has led to unfulfilled promise on the world's soccer season. stage. Thanks for listening to Pitch and Power, How Soccer Shapes Everything from the Globe and Mail. This show is produced by Jay Coburn and me, Owen O'Callam. Our senior producer is Kyle Fulton. Thank you to David Weber and Amy Lawrence for their contributions. And if you like the show, please follow us and share it with a soccer fan in your life.

This is Defender, pushed to its most extreme. Introducing Defender Octa, powered by a twin turbo V8 engine. Delivering immediate response and extraordinary performance, it's built for those who demand more from every drive. Pared with advanced 6D dynamics air suspension, intelligently adapting to your driving style, it offers greater control on road and confidence across even the most challenging terrain, because true performance isn't just about power, it's about precision, stability, control, Defender Octa, the extreme of capability. landrover.ca