Richard Baum

Tonight’s delights are a meeting of the Lib Dem Council Group at 6pm, followed by the inevitable heart-pounding trauma of England v Croatia at 8pm.

As a party I imagine we’ll be talking about lots of the pertinent issues ahead of the next Council meeting in a couple of weeks, including Radcliffe Riverside School, and the Prestwich Children’s Centres. There have also been rumours lately of a planned extension to Forest Bank prison which borders the ward from Salford and already encroaches onto local parkland and other environmental sites of interest. So I reckon that’ll get a mention too. And there’s the next Focus to plan, and recent committee meetings to talk about.

But we’ll all be out by 8 to watch England creep over the qualification finish line and breathlessly pant their way to Euro 2008.

I can’t be the only fan in England to harbour a secret desire for us to lose tonight, surely? I mean, obviously winning and going to the Euros is great on paper, but in reality it means the miserable McLaren era will continue, and that next summer will be a compendium of atrocious performances culminating in a rolling-over against the likes of Belgium in the quarter finals. And frankly, short-term anger aside, I’d rather be on a nice summer holiday away from it all. After all, Greece won the last one, so it’s a mickey-mouse tournament now, right?

And, because I won the ticket lottery and get the chance to buy England tickets if we qualify, I will actually have to be there in person to witness the misery. Rather than going to bed and pulling the duvet over my head after England 0-1 Switzerland, I will have to get water-cannoned into submission in a Zurich square.

Although, second-choice Steve does get a thumbs up from me for his ridiculous team selection. Keeping the David Beckham “will he / won’t he get to 100 caps” saga continuing for another few weeks by inexplicably dropping him, and jettisoning any semblance of an experienced goalkeeper in favour of a child called Scott, a youth who’s club I genuinely can’t be sure of. At least if he’s going to go down, he’s providing us with some comedy along the way.

They say that a week is a long time in politics. Given that a week ago England were down and out, and now they’re almost qualified, I think the same is true of the football. I am a lot more sure about what outcome to expect from the group meeting than I am from the football, that’s for certain!

Rick