The Vault: New Order - World In Motion (Subbuteo Mix)

A major break from the usual here: a post about football. No, you're not going to escape from it today. But I'm certainly no sports pundit, I'm not even a fan of football anymore. England play in the semi finals of the World Cup this evening, and while I'm pleased to see them come this far, I'm also going to remind people to be realistic. I remember previous World Cups and Euros, particularly the excitement of Euro 96. Optimism was particularly big in Britain at that time: Britpop was still king, British film and culture was booming, and the national football team now had their best set of players in years. The European Championships were held in England that summer, and the Lightning Seeds anthem 'Three Lions' captured the mood perfectly. They got so far, the semi finals in fact. But then lost to old rivals Germany on penalties.

Although the England team of 1996 have long since retired from playing, the legacy of that era lives on in this World Cup 22 years later. Gareth Southgate, who in 1996 became notorious for that unlucky penalty miss against the Germans, is now England manager. Wouldn't it be a great way to finally put that ghost to rest by winning the ultimate prize in 2018? Then there's the fact that 'Three Lions' has seen a major resurgence over recent weeks, a song which is still very much appropriate lyrically in the sense that England supporters are still used to bad luck and disappointment 22 years on. "30 years of hurt" is now 52 years. Then there's the song's infectious "football's coming home" refrain, a lyric that was actually referring to the fact that Euro 96 was being held in England. In a double context, it did hint that one day the major trophies could also be "coming home" to England if we kept the faith.

Over the last few decades we've seen England teams featuring all-star line ups who weren't able to gel as a unit. The media would whip the public into a frenzy of hype and high expectations, time and time again resulting in people getting more than a bit carried away. Of course hope, faith and optimism is positive, yet I have seen over-excitement leading to disappointment.

I see it as very ominous when I hear people singing "football's coming home" every single time England have won a game in this tournament. Has nobody learned from the past? At the beginning of this World Cup, many people didn't expect too much from the young and relatively unknown players, showing support but not putting them under the pressure of expectations. Stay humble and modest, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

I've done exactly that. I've followed England's progress but not watched any of the games, since they seem to be doing very well without me watching. Lots of others have been sensibly optimistic, and it's worked so far. But when people start getting carried away, I can't help but feel like they're falling into the same pattern of overexpectation that always leads to disappointment. Don't jinx it by celebrating too soon. Like the man who recently got himself a "World Cup winners 2018" tattoo. And whoever adjusted the Frome town sign to read "football's coming home". Calm down, we're not even in the final yet, let alone having England's name engraved on the trophy... Don't put pressure on these young players, who have already exceeded reasonable expectations by coming this far.

But it is great that England have reached their biggest game since the World Cup final in 1990. Hopefully they can reach the final this year, which will give me a good excuse to feature another football-related song. But just in case they don't, I'm featuring this while I still can. A superb version of the game-changing single that redefined what a football anthem could be.

I'm sure I don't need to give you more info about this classic by New Order, featuring members of the 1990 England squad. The band's links to Factory Records and the Hacienda resulted in DJ legends Mike Pickering and Graeme Park giving World In Motion a hint of the early 90s acid House movement on this excellent remix. This can be found on the original 12" single from 1990.