If you're an England supporter, and despite the best efforts of the likes of Eriksson, McClaren and Barwick, some of us still are, then you will be used to disappointment. In fact, you will have a PhD in it. England are simply masters at falling short. This article celebrates, if that is the right word, 10 of the worst experiences of being English and interested in football. Interestingly we haven't included anything from between 1953 and 1981, a period which covers the 1970s. This decade was probably the worst ever for the national team yet our failures to qualify for either the 1974 or 1978 World Cups never produced anything as lamentable as this lot. Additionally we haven't added anything from the Steve McClaren era. It's still too fresh. Too sore. When an updated version of this appears (or a 20) we will correct this glaring omission.

Sadly there are many others which we could have included but didn't. Two in particular stand out as 'nights we failed to qualify for the World Cup'. In 1973 a home draw with Poland ended our hopes and Sir Alf's job, but we absolutely battered a team who were to come third in West Germany. If Brian Clough's goalkeeping "clown" Jan Tomaszewski needs any introduction then you're on the wrong website.

Twenty years later a hapless Graham Taylor was ruefully re-writing the rules on English grammar as Holland defeated us 2-0 in Rotterdam. Yet he was the victim of possibly the worst ever decision to hamper an England manager when Ronald Koeman wasn't sent off after rugby tackling the clean through David Platt. Minutes later he chipped a twice taken free kick into David Seaman's net and that was that. For that reason it doesn't get in. Anyhow, see number 4 for Taylor's lowest ebb.

No.	Year	Teams and Details
1	1950	USA 1 England 0 - Belo Horizonte Thank the lord we weren't alive in 1950. A horribly ill-prepared England arrived in Brazil with huge expectations of bringing this previously derided trophy home to football's motherland. To say it didn't go to plan is something of an understatement. Despite a squad filled with post-war giants of the game, many of them were rested for this match after an opening victory against Chile. However, the team for the match against the part timers from the States still included the likes of Finney, Mortensen and Ramsey. The Americans were so sure of defeat that there Scottish coach, Bill Jeffrey, allowed them to stay up until the early hours the previous night. They were the usual group of butchers, bakers, cowboys and Indians and they humiliated England with a goal from Bert Gaetjens. With morale shot England subsequently lost to Spain and were home after the first round. A tournament that made Germany 2006 look like a roaring success. Click here for video clip.
2	1981	Norway 2 England 1 - Oslo The infamous defeat in September 1981 should have signalled the end of our chances of reaching Spain. It was England's third defeat in qualifying, the only time that has ever happened. However, Romania were unable to take advantage of England's ineptitude and Ron Greenwood's side scraped through. That night in Oslo was a truly awful affair. Robson gave England the lead only for the then hopeless Norwegians to strike back with goals from Albertsen & Thoresen. People often refer to the famous Norwegian radio commentary after the game but few remember it was a direct lift from Bryon Butler a year earlier after England had beaten Norway 4-0 at Wembley. "Captain Amundsen! The Heroes of Telemark! Aha! In a few years when you're famous. Your boys took a helluva beating! Can you hear me? Stig Inge Bjornbye! Can you hear me...?" Click here for video clip.
3	1953	England 3 Hungary 6 & Hungary 7 England 1 - Wembley / Budapest Yes, that was one of the greatest teams of all time beating us twice. But by an aggregate of 13-4! Utter humiliation for a team that, despite the Brazilian nightmare still had an arrogant belief in their own superiority. Not after May 1953 they didn't. The great Billy Wright commented that England were taught a footballing lesson by Puskas, Kocsis, Hidegkuti et al and he was right. Hungary played football from out of space compared to England's lumbering, dated approach (tactics were beyond them). It was our first ever defeat on home soil by a non-British side and if proof that it wasn't a fluke was needed (it wasn't), they outplayed England even more comprehensively in Budapest the following December. Click here for video clip.
4	1993	Norway 2 England 0 - Oslo The crowing moment of incompetence during Graham Taylor's reign came not in Holland, months later which consigned England's players to their armchairs for the 1994 USA World Cup. Nor was it the defeat by Sweden in 1992 which placed his team in the ejector seat from the European Championships. No, it was defeat in Norway (which effectively set up the Holland defeat), so complete, so shambolic that it has to make the top 10 despite the fact that it wasn't a massive shock at the time. In the build up to the match Taylor was hugely concerned about the aerial threat of the giant forward Jostein Flo. He deployed three centre halves to cope with this only to find his plans disintegrating when the Norwegian started wide on the right. The ensuing defensive chaos resulted in goals for Leonhardsen and Bohinen either side of half time. The match was memorably chronicled in Channel 4's documentary about the doomed qualifying campaign. If you don't believe that this game deserves to be in, just watch the clip... Click here for video clip.
5	1988	Saudi Arabia 1 England 1 - Riyadh With the disastrous European Championships in West Germany still very fresh in the memory, Bobby Robson took his side to Riyadh for the sort of friendly that the FA, thankfully, don't seem to sanction anymore. It was November, there was no point to it (apart from football politics), and Robson's side was ravaged with top players pulling out. Additionally, England's qualifying campaign for the 1990 World Cup had got off to an inauspicious start with a goalless draw at home to the perennial obstacle that is Sweden. Robson gave debuts to three starters, Sheffield Wednesday's right back, Mel Sterland (his only cap), and the Arsenal duo Michael Thomas and David Seaman. Though many established stars didn't play Lineker, Robson, Beardsley, Waddle and Pearce did, so victory was regarded as a formality by the press and probably the England party. A horrible shock arrived in the 15th minute in the form of Abdullah Mohammed's opener. Though a 2nd half equaliser from Adams enabled a draw it was a terrible, insipid performance and an awful result. The Daily Mirror provided us with a classic tabloid headline that summed up the mood of the time "IN THE NAME OF ALLAH - GO!"
6	2006	Germany World Cup Germany World Cup Golden generation or golden shower? You decide. A monstrously over hyped England set off for Germany on a wave of expectation. Yet beneath the bluster there were pretty obvious caveats to English success. Eriksson was appearing increasingly disaffected by the job, and the farcical nature of his forced departure seemed to dampen his enthusiasm. The selection of Walcott, one of two healthy strikers, seemed to encapsulate his demob happy mentality. The midfield blend had never been adequately settled and Rooney was injured. A bizarre attempt to recruit Scolari had been spurned and it was only that collective madness unique to England on the eve of major tournaments, which kept many believing we could win it. After a narrow, anaemic victory over Paraguay, England managed to turn things around against Trinidad with an anaemic, narrow victory. Inept defending ensured a draw against Sweden, but as group winners England were in the knockout stages. Another utterly uninspired 1-0 win saw off Ecuador and ensured that England were arguably the worst team to make the quarter finals since the disgusting Argentina team of 1990. Appropriately, we were knocked out after our best performance by a country mile. Inevitably it was on penalties and, as per usual, there was a refereeing controversy. An unfit Wayne Rooney was sent off after tangling with Carvalho's nether regions and being goaded by Ronaldo. At least the tabloids had a scapegoat. Overall, it was a miserable experience. The players were either injured, knackered, not good enough, or all 3. Only the WAGS did us proud. Click here for video clip.
7	1999	England 0 Scotland 1 The last match between the Auld Enemies at the old stadium. And as we would do to the Germans the following year, we gifted our rivals victory with a display that was ineffectiveness mixed with incompetence and applied solidly to ineptitude. Another common denominator? England were coached in both matches by Kevin Keegan. This one might appear harsh as a 2-0 victory at Hampden in the first leg of this European Championship play off match, had clinched qualification for Euro 2000. But the sheer, pitiful nature of this performance gets it into the top 10. It's not fair to pick on one individual but since when has this website been fair? Jamie Redknapp's efforts in the graveyard slot of left midfield summed up a terrible evening for Keegan's men. Click here for video clip.
8	1988	Germany European Championships A disastrous campaign, arguably England's worst of modern times. After a sensational qualifying campaign, capped with a magnificent 4-1 win in Yugoslavia, England were one of the favourites for the tournament. However, Bobby Robson had lost his defensive lynchpin, Terry Butcher, to injury and Gary Lineker was suffering with a virus (which turned out to be hepatitis). In the opening game a clearly off colour Lineker missed a sequence of chances before Ray Houghton scored a famous winner for the Irish. In England's second match against Holland things began well with a brave effort from Bryan Robson. But eventually the Dutch, who had also lost their first game, woke up. In particular, Marco van Basten pulled out one of the great centre forward performances with a magnificent hat trick to consign England's hopes to the dustbin. With the team already knocked out the Soviets treated Robson's lame ducks with contempt before easing up to coast to a 3-1 victory. There is no doubt that an England manager presiding over such a fiasco today would be sacked forthwith. However, despite the pressure that did exist, the FA kept faith with the Geordie. It would be too trite to suggest that they were proved right by our success in Italy. Their desire to remove Robson prior to the 1990 World Cup allowed him to negotiate a contract with PSV. Amid stories concerning his private life in the build up to the tournament, Robson announced his resignation. It was a typically tawdry episode presided over by the FA. Click here for video clip. Click here for video clip.
9	2005	Northern Ireland 1 England 0 - Belfast Not the first time the Irish had beaten us by any means, but compared to their fine sides of the 1980s, this was a journeyman outfit ranked 116th in the world. Still, it didn't matter on a blustery night in Belfast as they outfought and then outplayed a woeful England. 1-0 was scarcely adequate to describe the gulf between the two sides. David Healy scored the goal to send the Windsor Park crowd into utter delirium. Eriksson had changed from his favoured 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 with Rooney on the left and Beckham in a deep lying central midfield position which came to be called the quarterback position. It didn't work. Beckham might have well been in America already and with Rooney playing like a bear with a sore head this was not a happy night. Still it was largely forgotten outside Ulster as Eriksson guided the team to Germany with victories in the remaining two qualifiers but the aura of implacability about the man was beginning to erode. Click here for video clip.
10	2000	England 0 Germany 1 - Wembley The last ever game at Wembley. It lashed it down and the old place looked as miserable and tired as it probably ever had done. England served up a performance to match the general mood. This also came on the back of a dismal European Championships in the Low Countries. A first competitive victory over the Germans since 1966 was overshadowed by defeats against Portugal and Romania and a subsequent group exit. Kevin Keegan's tactical masterstroke to lift spirits was to play Gareth Southgate in midfield. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. The Germans began as though happy with a point, but scored with their first strike on goal on 13 minutes. Scholes gave away a free kick, which was lashed home by Hamann past a badly constructed wall and Seaman's late, despairing lunge. With 77 minutes remaining England struggled in the rain and the goal never looked like coming. Afterwards, in an honourable move, Keegan resigned, citing his inability to coax more out of either himself or his players. It led to the appointment of a certain Swede and surely a path to redemption... Click here for video clip.