David Baddiel admits he finally believes that football’s coming home

He said it, so it's happening

At first, it was all a tongue-in-cheek joke. A last gasp win over Tunisia to get England off the mark kickstarted a nationwide chorus of 'Football's coming home', everyone fully aware of how over the top they were being. But slowly, people have dared to believe it. As the big boys have dropped like flies and England have somehow ended up in the semi-finals of the World Cup, people are daring to dream. Football could actually be coming home. David Baddiel, co-writer of the famous song 'Three Lions', from which the 'football's coming home' hook originates, has admitted as much in this excellent piece published in The Times today. Baddiel opens by recalling the sudden death of his guinea pig shortly before kick-off, which he believed to be a bad omen.

"At 2.15pm yesterday, my guinea pig died. I took this as a bad omen. And yet, as I sat in Frank Skinner’s living room watching England play Sweden — the team confidence and spirit so clearly there, Harry Maguire’s and Dele Alli’s headers sealing the day, Jordan Pickford a god among men — I started to experience a strange new feeling."

He then goes on to conclude that perhaps it was not, perhaps it's all falling into place.

"We still believe, says Three Lions ’98, so yes, all right, I believe: it’s coming home. So much so that by the time I was walking back from Frank’s house after beating Sweden, I had become convinced that my guinea pig’s death was, clearly, a good omen, because his name was Bjorn."