England go into their quarter-final against Italy tomorrow in buoyant mood, and why not? The team entered Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine with low expectations back at home, no-one expected the team to perform, few thought they would escape the group stages – yet they've proved everyone wrong.
The negative publicity and burden of media scrutiny that dogged the national side in the past have all but disappeared and the players seem to be more relaxed than under any manager since Terry Venables.
Even Rio Ferdinand says that England seem united and the cliques that used to exist in the squad have disappeared, so it's no wonder that they're fancied to overcome the Azzurri and set up a mouth-watering semi-final against Germany. Deja vu anyone?
Now it may just be me, but there are some major similarities with Newcastle United here – in both their inability to meet expectations in the past and their new-found zest for the game.
One of Newcastle's major problems in the past – apart from those created by Freddy Shepherd and the bad decisions made by Mike Ashley at the beginning of his tenure - was the intense expectation that Kevin Keegan's amazing (first) reign brought to both the fans and the media.
We would become easily frustrated when we weren't seeing incredible no-holds-barred displays of attacking football, and the press and pundits would love sticking the knife in at every available opportunity.
As much as it may have been a mental issue, this was one of the biggest obstacles facing England under Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, and we all know how successful their respective reigns were.
But my, haven't things changed.
At Newcastle and England, out went a lot of older players with big reputations who hadn't delivered much except inflated egos and sense of entitlement, in came a new no-nonsense manager nobody much fancied and players who just wanted to do their best for themselves and the fans.
Expectations fell and the hyper-critical media coverage stopped. With the team suddenly an underdog, a newfound togetherness appeared in the squad that became the backbone of the team.
It was this immense spirit and commitment to teammates last season that helped Newcastle punch well above their weight to finish fifth, and it seems as though the same is now happening with England.
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| There is a new sense of team spirit for Roy Hodgson's England |
All talk during Euro 2012 so far has been about the great atmosphere within the England camp, and this surely has a lot to do with the absence of pressures that existed in the past.
There is something about being the underdog that is great for team morale, and Newcastle thrived in the role last year as England seem to be now.
Ashley Cole summed it up perfectly speaking to the media yesterday when he said: "We are like 11 bulldogs who never give up and basically will die on the pitch for each other. So far it seems to be working."
Hopefully this can prove as successful for the Three Lions as it did for Newcastle in the Premier League last season.
