‘Back in the former USSR’: where were you when England were knocked out of Euro 96? | Sport TV

David Baddiel: ‘We went to some some terrible FA event with the worst sandwiches in the world’

I was, of course, at Wembley, which is brought home any time you see a montage of Euro 96 and the cameras cut to me and Frank Skinner after the final whistle looking very pissed off. When Alan Shearer scored three minutes in, I remember the crowd manically chanting: “It’s coming home!” It was if they couldn’t chant it fast enough, their will to win was so intense. When it went to penalties, the whole atmosphere seemed doomed.

People talk of the dignified way Gareth Southgate walked away from the penalty spot after he missed, but he also walked like that to the penalty spot. I kind of knew it was over before he even stepped up. You have to have something of the animal in you to be confident under that kind of pressure, but Southgate is a 100% gentleman. Afterwards, we went to some terrible FA event with the worst sandwiches in the world.

In another universe, Robbie Fowler was brought on, scored, and we went on to win the World Cup and Brexit and the pandemic never happened.

The Germans used the somewhat Teutonic logic that because they had won the tournament, they had also won the song, and so, a month later, Three Lions entered the German chants. At the end of that year, Frank and I went to Germany to sing it on their version of Sports Personality of the Year. We wore England 66 shirts even though the producers had asked us not to. We felt they deserved the punishment.

David Baddiel’s Trolls: Not The Dolls tour is being rescheduled

John Motson: ‘It happened again’

I had been told I was doing the final, which is why Barry Davies [the BBC commentator] did England v Germany. I was at Old Trafford commentating on the Czech Republic v France. That kicked off at 4pm, so I couldn’t have got back to Wembley.

I remember the feeling when Gazza missed that chance by about a foot. Then, I just remember thinking: “Oh no, not penalties again.” I kept my eyes glued, not just because it was England, but because it determined who I would be commentating on in the final. I was working when Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle missed against Germany in Turin in Italia 1990. Sure enough, it happened again. Gareth was the unlucky player. I can still picture Terry Venables trying to console him.

It was a thrill to see all these overseas teams come over here. It gave football a hell of a boost. We really hadn’t seen anything like it since 66, which – thank you – I’m old enough to remember. I was a journalist, doing a weekly reporter’s job. I went to the England v Argentina match with my dad when [the Argentina captain] Antonio Rattín was sent off. I didn’t get to the final because I didn’t have a ticket. So I watched it in a neighbour’s front room.

John Motson is a regular contributor to talkSPORT

Ian Broudie, Lightning Seeds: ‘I had to resist throwing a TV at the Germans’

You always see footage of David and Frank holding their heads in their hands. I was a few rows back with some mates. I think Virgin Radio invited us. Chris Evans had a big hospitality tent because he was really pally with Gazza.

I was terrified the whole game. There was all this stuff about how you can’t practise penalties. Pundits and managers used to say you can’t replicate the penalty situation in training. I’ve always thought: “What are you on about? Yes, you can!” As a musician, you rehearse so that when you get on stage and you’re really nervous, it’s second nature and you rely on muscle memory. As a footballer, you should train for a situation when you are overcome with emotion so your body will still perform. That is the very definition of rehearsal!

When we got back to our hotel, Martin, our bass player, said: “Do you want to go to the bar?” But I said I wanted to go to lie down for a minute because it was so hot. I had the window open and I heard, [sings] “Three Lions on a shirt …” and remember thinking: “Ah, it’s nice they’re singing it even though we lost.” I looked out of the window and it was all German fans. I had to resist throwing a TV out of the window.

The Lightning Seeds’ 25th Anniversary Jollification Tour is rescheduled

Hayley McQueen: ‘I was underage in the pub’

I was 16 with a load of school friends. I had just finished my GCSEs and I remember it being projected on a big screen at the back of the beer garden in a pub in Yarm in North Yorkshire. I probably didn’t drink because I was mega into my sport. I wasn’t one of those kids behind the bike sheds with cans of cider.

A lot of the lads were in their England shirts, but I never wore a football shirt. My dad [Manchester/Scotland footballer Gordon McQueen] was coach at Middlesbrough under Bryan Robson. He wasn’t bothered about me going out in a miniskirt, but I think he would have strangled me if I wore an England shirt. Obviously my dad is a massive Scotland fan, so I remember him ringing up people like Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce to gloat. I think he found it hard with three kids and my mum all as England fans.

Follow Hayley McQueen on Instagram @mcqueenhayley

Lloyd Griffith: ‘I was on a field trip and a German school turned up’

I was 13. It was my first proper tournament because we hadn’t qualified for 92 and I was too young to remember Italia 1990. One of my teachers, Mr Hampson, had been to the England v Holland game and brought back a load of paraphernalia, so we all had these flags and Dutch plastic hats. I had left Grimsby to go on a summer history field trip to Battle and Bodiam castle in Kent.

England v Germany was our first night and so a lot of the teachers wanted to watch. We were staying in a youth hostel in the middle of nowhere, but there was a German school on a field trip in the same hostel. Both schools were in this massive room with this TV on wheels. They were pretty quiet until Andreas Köpke saved the winning penalty, but even then they were so gracious in their victory. They didn’t know the tune to Three Lions, so they started singing, and I’ll never forget it [sings with German accent]: “England, you can go home …” That will haunt me for ever.

Follow Lloyd Griffith on Instagram @lloydgriffith

David Seaman: ‘I was on the pitch’

I was on the pitch!

David Seaman is an ambassador of The Willow Foundation

Tim Key, actor: ‘I was in the former USSR’

I watched England v Switzerland in my mate’s garden and got a bit of a flavour, so I had considered sticking around to watch our first major football tournament since 1966, but then took the insane decision to go and teach English as a foreign language in Ukraine. So I was living in Kyiv.

I watched England v Scotland by walking confidently and businessman-like into a hotel just off Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) and finding a telly on the mezzanine. I remember I had an old lady cleaning round me. I lifted my legs over her Hoover as Gazza lifted the ball over poor old Hendry. I was as engrossed as I was accommodating.

For the semi-final, my student, a chap called Fan, invited me round to watch it in his dacha, which is kind of a country retreat. Fan had some stuff to sort out, so he asked me to keep his dad company. So that was that. An 80-year-old Ukrainian man, and me, sat in front of the anthems, watching England v Germany. 

We didn’t share a common language but I imagine we at least exchanged looks when Shearer scored and Stefan Kuntz evened things up. Fan’s dad was on the lemon tea, his dentures rattling in my peripheral vision as Gazza stretched. When it was all over, he climbed out of his chair and hobbled out of the room, muttering: “Germania – machina.” I’ll never forget it.

Tim Key appears in Days of the Bagnold Summer, which is out on digital from 8 June

Gabby Logan: ‘I was with my boyfriend’s mum’

I was in a house in a village called Rowlands Gill near Newcastle. I was doing the breakfast show on Metro FM, and also working as a touchline reporter for Newcastle United. I was 23 and my boyfriend at the time had gone off to join the navy. There was only one TV in the house, so I was watching with his mum. She wasn’t a massive football fan, but she was, as we say at the BBC, a “big eventer” – one of those people who come along for the big championships. I find it quite joyous watching with people like that. They bring a vicarious excitement and innocence that anything’s possible. 

Obviously, 96 was just such a bloody wonderful time with the music, the hope, possibility and opportunity. There was so much collective love for the national team. When we got knocked out, even the commentators didn’t know what to say. It just felt a bit flat. It didn’t really resonate. Everyone was left thinking: “What? That’s not supposed to happen.”

Gabby Logan presents Athletics: How Dina And Kat Struck World Gold, BBC One, Sunday 31 May, 3pm

ITV4 is replaying the whole of England v Germany from 1996 on Thursday 28 May, 7pm