England get their European Championships campaign underway against Serbia tonight and a familiar drum of hype can be heard across the nation.
It won’t be long before Football’s Coming Home rings out around England and everyone gets very excited about potential victory parades when Gareth Southgate’s men get their hands on a trophy in mid-July.
That mood of optimism tends to be shattered when England bottle it, as usual, in the quarter-finals or semi-finals. If and when that happens, a lot of people around Ireland and in my home town of Liverpool will get a good laugh out of it.
The arrogance of England football fans when these international tournaments roll around never wanes, even though they have been disappointed time and again since their World Cup win in 1966.
That win was so long ago that the black-and-white film of Geoff Hurst and his hat-trick in the final against West Germany must be getting a little worn out at this stage.
In the years since, England have flirted with glory and the closest they got was in the last Euros when they lost in the final against Italy at Wembley.
If it wasn’t for the arrogance of England fans, I probably wouldn’t laugh as much as I do when they go out, but I know I’m not alone here.
Irish people have plenty of reasons to get joy out of England losing a big football match and the sentiments are very similar in my home town of Liverpool for a number of reasons.
We are a city in the north-west of England, but I always say that if we had a referendum to become part of Ireland, there would be an overwhelming ‘yes’ vote.
A lot of us in Liverpool were raised by Irish parents who came to the UK seeking a better life in the 1950s and 60s.
Even if we don’t have Irish parents, a lot of our grandparents are Irish and that upbringing and tradition makes us feel more Irish than English.
There is also a feeling in Liverpool that we have been battered by the London government for far too long and never given a fair deal on so many issues.
Aldo:Why a lot of Liverpool people don't support England
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Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher hated the Liverpool people and didn’t try to hide that, meaning we were always treated as second-class citizens by her nasty Tory party.
The treatment of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 did further damage to the relationship between the people of Liverpool and the London government and it has never really been repaired.
A general election is coming in England on July 4 and no one in Liverpool will be voting for the Tories.
The mood among our people is that it feels like we have been fighting our own battles throughout our history without any help from the people who make all the decisions in the Houses of Parliament.
That’s one reason why you will always hear Liverpool fans booing the national anthem when they watch their team playing cup finals at Wembley.
So many people ask me why that happens, but if you understand the history between the people of Liverpool and the government in the capital city, you would see where we are coming from.
Liverpool people don’t take crap from anyone and as the politicians who added so much agony to the families of the Hillsborough victims with their lies and subsequent cover-up found out, they messed with the wrong city when they took us on.
As we have seen with the campaign to stop buying The Sun newspaper since their disgraceful coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, you are messing with the wrong people when you go after Liverpudlians
Our people are proud and fight for justice on all levels. When you feel like the state is not on your side, it makes it very difficult for Liverpool folk to feel patriotic when the British national anthem pipes up and England play in a big tournament.
I was born in England, but I can honestly say I never felt English. My identity was in my city and from a young age, I felt Irish.
Thankfully, the recent DNA search as part of my appearance on RTÉ’s Keys To My Life show confirmed what I always knew inside – I’m biologically more Irish than English in my bloodline and that made me feel very proud.
Plenty of people questioned me when I played international football for Ireland, even though I was born in England. But nothing gave me more pride than pulling on that green jersey.
I remember the day Jack Charlton asked me if I would play for his Ireland team – it was one of the greatest moments of my life, for sure.
After that, every time I had a chance to play for Ireland, that feeling of pride was overwhelming.
Beating England at Euro 88 was made all the more satisfying after so many of the English media and plenty of their fans mocked players like Ray Houghton and myself for playing for Ireland.
Yet I didn’t think for a second that I wanted to play for England, and the Ireland call-up meant as much to me as playing for my beloved Liverpool.
Sadly, Ireland don’t look like qualifying for a major tournament with the current crop of players, but if I was a player now and it might mean I didn’t get a chance to play in major tournaments, I’d still declare for Ireland if I had the option to be selected for England.
I can’t get my head around Declan Rice playing senior international football for Ireland, pulling on that green jersey, hearing the anthem and then turning around and singing God Save The Queen with an England shirt on a few months later.
Rice clearly has a different mentality to me and the sight of him playing for England at this summer’s Euros is another reason why I hope they don’t win it.
Southgate’s side are the bookies’ favourites and when you look at the players in their squad, they have to have a real chance to go all the way.
Yet there won’t be too many cheers in Liverpool if they finally end their long wait for a trophy over the next month ... and we’ll never hear the bloody end of it if they do win the trophy this summer!
