The football world already has it all planned out: fans, players, ex-players, pundits and journalists alike all want Harry Redknapp to replace Fabio Capello as England manager, following the Italian's resignation yesterday evening.

Some were already looking beyond Euro 2012 Capello had already planned to retire after this summer's tournament to the Redknapp era, convinced he would be the man for the job at some point.

It's now officially four crucial months to the Euro 2012 and following Fabio Capello's resignation last night, England has no manager to lead them to glory! That's exactly what Jack Wilshere groaned about ("Euro's is just around the corner and we have no manager?

If the early history of the European Championships can be seen as explicitly wrapped up in the politics of the time, then Spain's victory on home ground in 1964 European Nations Cup could be regarded as one of international football's ultimate flashes in the pan.
This was a victory that was simultaneously the last gasp of one of the greatest club sides that European football has ever seen and the beginning of a lull that would last for more than twenty years, a brief victory for the ultra-nationalism that blighted Spanish political life for the most of the four decades that followed the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939.

Laurie Hughes obituary

England centre-half at the 1950 World Cup The tale of the Liverpool footballer Laurie Hughes, who has died aged 87, is one of the game's saddest stories. He was plunged into World Cup football in Brazil in 1950, his debut for England. But during a Charity Shield game a few months later, he was badly injured, ending his international career.