Normally I am the last person to allow optimism to get in the way of common sense when it comes to supporting England.

I’ve lived through four decades of hurt and seen too many false dawns to get excited by a good display in the build-up to a major tournament. But there was something about the March 26 win over Germany, something a little bit special, that meant a feeling I vowed to suppress was brought back to the surface – hope.

For years I, like countless other England fans around the world, have trained myself to approach tournaments like the World Cup and European Cup with pre-prepared pessimism. It generally softens the blow when the inevitable failure arrives.

And up to March 26 this approach was working well.

But that display in Berlin has seen the demons of expectation once again raise their all-too-ugly heads. For the first time in decades it actually feels like England might be in with a genuine shout.

I’ve been saying for a while now that the current group of England internationals is probably the most exciting since 1996. And on March 26 we saw evidence to that effect.

Admittedly there are question marks over the defence, but when it comes to midfield and attack, the options at Roy Hodgson’s disposal are enviable. I can’t think of many European teams that Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Delle Alli and Ross Barkley wouldn’t get in to.

And they are only the tip of a talent iceberg that also includes Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana, Jack Wilshere, Danny Drinkwater, Eeic Dier, Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott, Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlaid Chamberlain.

And then there is Wayne Rooney. Some are saying he is now surplus to requirements but I would suggest the opposite is true. The fact that he is no longer the only decent player in the England team should give him the freedom to be at his best. Write him off at your peril.

The players showed levels of hunger, passion and desire that haven’t been seen in an England shirt for decades

What really excited me about the Germany game was that the players showed levels of hunger, passion and desire that haven’t been seen in an England shirt for decades. They were fast, creative, organised and, more than anything else, not afraid to enjoy themselves. It really did feel like the dawn of a new era.

Of course, England being England, that theoretical turning point was followed by a humbling 2-1 home defeat to Holland. But, if we are honest, the team that started that match was not the first-choice 11. Despite this, the football on show was fluent enough to suggest the Germany display was no fluke.

Hodgson has been dealt a hand of players that his immediate predecessors would have killed for. If this England team fails to make a mark on Euro 2016 then it will be down to him and him alone.

The simple truth is that if he adopts his cautious approach to the game, this team will fail. Defending isn’t their strength and won’t be even if John Terry is persuaded out of retirement, as has been rumoured.

But if Hodgson gives them the freedom to be adventurous, and sends them out to enjoy their football, this is a team that is capable of going all the way. And it’s been a extremely long time since I’ve felt like that about England.

Welcome back hope, I’ve missed you.

The next Villa boss can be a hero

When Aston Villa announced they had parted company with Remi Garde – news conveniently buried during the England vs Holland match – many questioned who on earth would want the job now.

Well, as surprising as it may seem, I actually think there will be a substantial queue of people lining up to take over at Villa Park. And if there isn’t, there definitely should be.

The reality is that the nasty work has now been done. Relegation is a certainty and any manager who comes in at this point will have only one brief – start building a team capable of promotion from the Championship.

Fair enough, the club is in crisis and has been epically mismanaged over the past few seasons. And yes, the owner has lost interest and wants to sell.

But the truth remains that Villa are a big club with substantial natural resources, a huge following and hefty parachute payments to look forward to next season.

On top of that they already have the nucleus of a team that would be more than capable of holding its own in the second tier of English football. Get rid of half a dozen time-wasters and bring in the same amount of experienced players and suddenly you have a proper team on your hands.

Key to this is, of course, the identity of the new manager. I said at the time that Garde’s appointment was a disaster waiting to happen. To all but the idiots who appointed him, it was obvious the Frenchman was the wrong type of manager for a relegation fight. Taking the job didn’t do the club or himself any favours.

The next boss needs to be someone less flowery and philosophical, if you know what I mean. Garde may well be a good manager but when a team is in crisis you don’t appoint someone who is all about pretty football and long-term strategy. You appoint someone who knows how to win at all costs.

And the same applies to getting promoted. Villa’s next boss needs to be a Sam Allardyce or a Neil Warnock – a manager who has been there, done it and got the bruises to show for it.

If they get this appointment right, I see absolutely no reason why this time next year this grand old club can’t be looking forward to a swift return to the big time with the new manager achieving heroic status.

A word of warning, however: get it wrong and it is a surprisingly short journey into League One.

Neville needs to lower his expectations

There is no doubt that Gary Neville talks a good game. Anybody who has seen his analysis on television will agree that the man knows his football.

But after being sacked as Valencia manager last week, he has learnt the hard way that there is a huge difference between knowing how football should be played and actually getting it played that way.

In hindsight there were all sorts of reasons why the Valencia job wasn’t the right one for Neville to cut his managerial teeth, ranging from the language barrier to the fact that he didn’t have a particularly great squad of players to start with.

But I suppose for someone as ambitious as Neville, the temptation of kick-starting his career with a relatively big club was just too much to turn down.

The question now is not so much whether Neville can resurrect his managerial career but whether he will actually want to.

He has numerous business interests to keep him busy: he is part-owner of his own football club plus he could always slip back into his Sky TV role where he had really started making a name for himself.

However, you suspect none of that will be enough for Neville, who probably has ambitions of one day taking over at Old Trafford and, undoubtedly, the national team too.

If that is the case and he does see his future in football management then he should probably bite the bullet and go and learn the trade properly – at Championship or even League One level.

It might not have the prestige that comes with playing against teams like Barcelona or Real Madrid, but there is no better place to learn how the game really works than in the lower divisions where football management is at its purest.

I still believe that somewhere deep down inside young Mr Neville there is a bloody good manager struggling to get out.

A spell in the lower reaches might just set him free.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade