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English Country Garden by the Darkness had a line that I always found amusing: 'It was a cigarette break and I was desperate When I saw her pushing that wheelbarrow She said have you got a match? and I said yes! My cock and Farmer Giles prizewinning marrow'

If you're speaking simply about English pundits wanting England to win, then that hasn't particularly dissipated, but it's not anywhere near as demanding as it was, nor is there the unwarranted belief that England even deserve to win, when there was once a belief that England should be winning tournaments. There's much less of the Billy Big Bollocks air of superiority we once had, which was massively unjustified. Bias is rife in club football punditry (you ever seen McManaman or Souness talk during a Liverpool game or Ferdinand or Scholes during a United game? It's like watching Fanzone) and there will always be allegiances. I think it's unreasonable to expect otherwise. But even during Euro 2014, English pundits were very much behind Wales (except when they played England, where it was genuinely a lot more balanced). I even remember watching Scotland at France 98 (the most recent example I can give, because Scotland are a bit shit at the whole qualifying thing) and the English pundits in the studio were right behind Scotland to beat Brazil in that opening game. I watched that game at my mates house and the pub across the road from him was showing it on a projector in the beer garden, and the place (occupied by 99.9% brazen Yorkshiremen) went mad when Scotland scored that penalty. The presentation of international tournaments would seem more balanced if more home nations qualified, as I'm sure the pundits would rally behind them all, as they have done previously and often do during qualifiers/playoffs etc. Expecting them to tone it down just because other home nations didn't qualify is a little embittered. And the whole "they always hark back to 66" is as big of a myth as "Andy Murray is British when he wins and Scottish when he loses".

Clive Tyldsley can certainly get wrapped up in it. He always seems desperate for his next "Can they score? They always score" soundbite that will be repeated forever, and some of the stuff he says is just cheeseball nonsense as a result. If England win it and you're watching ITV coverage, you might want to switch over as soon as the final whistle goes. He might be the most over-egged human being on earth. I haven't found anything else to be particularly grating this time around though. The punditry is bad because the ex-pros tend to know very little about anything, and have been routinely put to shame by Alex Scott and Eni Aluko. (Phil Neville repeated almost word for word what Alex Scott said about Colombia's opening game, like that famous Fast Show sketch about being locked out of the car) From my perspective, it's not been bad because they're being particularly overbearing. They're just bad. In previous tournaments, up until 2010 anyway, there was ridiculous expectation for England's "golden generation" (lol) to win it from all corners of the media, to the point that it was just hideous to read or watch. This time around, it's a young team, young manager, all relatively unproven, there's zero expectation, if England get done by Sweden, that'll be that. There certainly won't be burning effigies of Jordan Henderson hanging from a noose like Beckham had to face, or every tabloid's collectively boiled piss being metaphorically hurled at the team as they arrive home. However, I think it's quite fair that if England win the World Cup, the English are going to be pretty chuffed about it, to the extent of a bit more than just a whispered "get in there" and a discreet fist pump by the water cooler on Monday morning. Name a country that would act any different.

Cloudy Lemonade are both dicks for wrecking a golf course.