SEVEN UP
Whether it’s relegation, the loss of a cup final or some other soul-crushing matchday disappointment, no televised capitulation of a football team is ever truly complete without the obligatory and intrusive post-match camera cutaway to a young fan sobbing uncontrollably in the stands. When England’s relentless humiliation of Croatia had finished on Saturday, the TV director was spoilt for choice. The vast majority of the 6,403 fans present at the behind-slightly-ajar-doors fixture were local children, admitted for free. Their “reward” for the previous misbehaviour of their more senior counterparts turned into what was almost certainly one of the more harrowing days of their young lives.
