It's true! The BBC told me.

Admittedly, this was some five years ago, and the piece on their website was written more out of hope than expectation, but having stumbled onto the outdated link yesterday, it makes for some interesting comparison between who has 'made it' and who has 'made a beeline' for the Championship.

The 1st-team goes something like this: Kirkland, Taylor, Rio & Anton Ferdinand, SWP, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Stevie G, Dunn, Owen and Rooney.

Now, there are two things you're probably thinking. One, wot, no Emile Heskey? And two, who is this Taylor fella? It's actually Birmingham's Martin Taylor, believe it or not.

There is a subs bench named too, which includes such belters at Michael Tonge and Neil Mellor.

The feature is written with such optimism it's almost inconceivable that England won't win the 2008 Euros, going unbeaten through the qualifiers and the tournament itself, and no doubt beating someone like Brazil in the Final.

Of course, the other side of this is that it's quite painful assessing where it has all gone wrong.

And something we're all guilty of, not just the Beeb, is that there's a tacit condition of being a football supporter that involves applying blinkers at specific moments. For instance, yes, the Coles, Owen, Rooney, Rio, Gerrard .. they've all made it.

The real trouble is, so have Villa, Torres, Podolski, Ronaldo, Arshavin etc...

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