What do you make of this?
After Croatia beat England in the World Cup semi-final, their captain Luka Modric said that his side were motivated by certain comments that were made in the English press. “English journalists, pundits from television, they underestimated Croatia tonight and that was a huge mistake. All these words from them we take, we were reading and we were saying ‘ok, today we will see who will be tired,” he said.
On that note, Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balague has said that after speaking with some of the Croatian players, the Croats believed that the narrative of Baddiel and Skinner’s famous song, It’s Coming Home, and the constant repetition of its message which you can see examples of here, was the perfect motivation for them to go and beat Southgate’s men.
In fact, Balague even states that the Croatian players felt the message of It’s Coming Home was a sign of disrespect.
Read interviews/spoke with Croat players. They saw #ComingHome signing as disrespectful mostly because it CONFIRMED what they thought of the English. U might say it was all a joke (it felt less of one after #COL), I’m telling you how it was perceived. Maybe something to consider
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) July 14, 2018
As we’ve previously stated, to many football fans, It’s Coming Home is the personification of a feel good factor that has returned to the English national team.
After years of relatively ‘unlikeable’ players and managers, the current England squad feels like a breath of fresh air that has rallied and unified the public to their cause.
After the debacle of Euro 2016, the English public now have a team that they can feel proud of and support. That’s entirely understandable.
Also, with regards to Ireland, it should be said that our most beloved football song can also be interpreted as a sign of arrogance and superiority.
“We’ll really shake them up when we win the World Cup” is clearly tongue in cheek, but if we’re using the same parameters, there’s also a case to be made that It’s Coming Home should be treated in jest.
This being said, there has been a few glaring examples of the lyrics being used to amplify a rampant arrogance and cockiness that’s prevalent in some English supporters that have boasted about the World Cup coming home.
As we saw, Croatia put an end to those dreams.
Regarding the issue, here’s what Lineker said along with a few of the more interesting opinions that replied to his tweet.
Dear non English football fans.
Football’s coming home is a fun song highlighting the lack of success of our football team for decades. No one really thought we’d win it. I totally get why you might think it was arrogance, but it’s more our self deprecatory sense of humour. 👍🏻— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 14, 2018
As for the replies, they’re as diverse as you would expect.
As neighbours, we get it, of course. But I can understand how others wouldn’t. An inferiority complex is not a dimension of the English character it has often shown the world. 🙂
— chris o'dowd (@BigBoyler) July 14, 2018
Is this a boiling hot take? https://t.co/nOL0eV4GfO
— The Blindboy Podcast (@bbboatclub) July 14, 2018
Still annoyed that some say England fans thought they'd already won the World Cup with "It's Coming Home."
It was a movement. It was about having belief and dreaming of the impossible – as a country.
No one felt "entitled" to win the World Cup. No one thought it was "easy."
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) July 13, 2018
The lyrics were rejected by our Football Association first time round for being too negative about the team…
— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) July 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/Chris31816273/status/1018113134190649346
Exactly – same thing as when fans of club sides sing “we’re the greatest team the world has ever seen” – if you take that literally then every group of fans in the country is arrogant – nonsense
— Rich Clancy (@Clancymusic) July 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/gunnerblog/status/1017712375414362112
The resistance to the idea of others "not getting the joke" comes, I think, from guilt & shame. In England we've felt this tournament ran counter to the usual entitlement, that it gave respite during a time of political crisis/shame. Sad to realise others see same old England.
— Alex Keble (@alexkeble) July 14, 2018
I get the song thing – and I didn’t think we could do it – but I think a lot of people honestly thought we could win. The hysteria was contagious…
— Georgie Bingham (@georgiebingham) July 14, 2018
There is a difference between believing and arrogance. They way you lot (English media) spoke about the final before even the semi final speaks volume. You thought it will be easy against Croatia. Its not the English fans who are arrogant its the media.
— What (@asheekc) July 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/Docilton/status/1018118056793473024
