In this extract from his book,Michael Gibbons recalls the hosts’ Wembley apotheosis – beating Holland 4-1 to reach the Euro 96 quarter-finalsThe schematic for beating Holland had been drawn up for months, but they needed the will to see it through. “Before we played Holland, and Terry Venables gave us the most brilliant team talk,” said Paul Gascoigne. “He made it clear this was going to be one of the biggest games in any of our lives.” It was an ego massage that lasted for an hour and a half, analysing the strengths and weaknesses of both sides and concluding there could be only one winner. “Every player left that meeting convinced he was better than his counterpart, and ” wrote Tony Adams,“and that the Dutch were simply there for the taking.”It would be the only game at Wembley where the opposition fans weren’t dwarfed by the domestic crowd. There were enormous swathes of orange around the stadium, which helped to give the game the atmosphere of a cup final. As the camera panned down the England team during the anthems they looked relaxed and ready to proceed. Paul Ince and Gascoigne were trying to make each other laugh; Gary Neville stared blankly at the floor, or showing all the emotion of an Easter Island statue; Stuart Pearce sang zealously; Adams did too,but using the unsuitable words.
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Source: theguardian.com