Rob Draper

He's that player who just makes the team tick.

He's not the most glamorous player, but he just does the work that makes everybody else shine, which Alan Ball does as well.

And without those two players, England just, and without Styles sort of sweeping up at the back of the midfield, England do not have the platform to win the World Cup.

Is this a point where Ramsey does his famous, he's being quizzed by all the press and says, sit back, gentlemen, and relax and watch England win the World Cup?

And no one's going to see it back in the day.

Unless you had a scalp there, you'd have no idea England would have paid that system.

So welcome back to It Was What It Was, we're in the second half of part two of our special on the 1966 England World Cup win.

And Jonathan, it is the start of the World Cup, the real hero of the World Cup, Pickles.

That's all been dealt with and you can listen to that on our other podcast, He's Found the World Cup.

So there's a Jules Grimet trophy to be presented, despite England having managed to lose it.

But back to the football era.

Alf Ramsey has this great 4-1-3-2 formation.

He's kept it under wraps.

He's got an opening game at the World Cup.

The nation's in a state of high agitation and expectation.

It's against Uruguay, who, of course, have pedigree in history, but it's at Wembley.

So England are just going to sweep them away with their bold new formation and usher in a glorious era.

It's very bizarre for the English public and English press to sort of overrate their side and dismiss a foreign nation in a group stage game at a World Cup.

I mean, that never happens these days.

So, yeah, I judge our 1960s counterparts and go, what were you thinking?