Back Home: England, the 1970 World Cup, Harold Wilson and the General Election

Back Home: England, the 1970 World Cup, Harold Wilson and the General Election

From World Cup Rambling by Matthew Okot

June 7, 2025 · 2h 41m · Season 5 · Episode 4

About this episode

The episode revisits England's journey in the 1970 World Cup amidst political events in the UK.

It’s time to revise and expand on a topic that was covered in the series one episode “The Carnival is Over”. It’s the summerof 1970 and England are the reigning World Champions. The Three Lions are one of the most feared and respected sides in world football. Some of the stalwarts of 1966 – Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst – are regarded as having improved. Sir Alf Ramsey, England's inscrutable manager, has brought in a clutch of new faces – Keith Newton, Brian Labone, Terry Cooper, Alan Mullery, Francis Lee, Colin Bell. England have to cope with the Mexican heat and high altitude. There is also Latin American hostility and conspiracy theories, a hangover from 1966 when England were accused of ‘fixing’ the tournament in favour of European teams and against South American teams. A stopover in Colombia goes disastrously wrong when Bobby Moore is arrested after being accused of stealing a bracelet. England start their campaign with a robust match against Romania. Then comes the epic, iconic match against Brazil. It is widely assumed that this will be a dress rehearsal for the final. England conclude their group programme with a dull game against…

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Host: Matthew Okot

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Places: England, Colombia, Mexico

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