Only those of a certain age will get this at all but there was something very nicely nostalgic about only being able to listen to Ukraine- England on the radio.
All it needed was for the game to be played on a Wednesday night (for International Football never used to happen on a weekend) and I could've been back in the 1980's. It reminded me of listening on Radio 2 medium wave to Sport on 2 with its jaunty introductory music and Bryon Butler and Peter Jones providing the commentary. Sometimes they'd only give you the second half if the game wasn't deemed important enough to move 'Your Hundred Greatest Tunes' or whatever programme was on beforehand.
I'd be allowed to stay up and listen until the end but my Mum wouldn't be persuaded that my bedtime could extend past those providers of weekday footballing action, Sportsnight and Midweek Sports Special. So before going to bed I'd commandeer the video recorder (for I was the only one who knew how to use it to do anything other than put a tape in and press play) and record the game highlights and then get up stupidly early before school to watch the game.
Oh, the good old days before Sky. I do kind of miss them. But only when the game isn't really important and we lose.
