The Sport Thread

[Steve Williams]

BBC and ITV through might see lower than usual ratings for the later stages of World Cup if England do go out early through.

In 2014, England went out in the group stages, in 2010 they went out in the first knockout round and in Euro 2008 they didn't even qualify, so it's only been the last three tournaments that there's been home nations interest right at the business end, and it's been pretty much the exception in the past fifty years rather than the rule. And in those three tournaments, they might not have got record-breaking figures but the ratings were absolutely fine. Cos it's the World Cup.

Anyway, absolutely nobody had England down as potential winners when they went into the 2018 tournament and they got to the last four. Six months to go yet.