# Football's Coming Home: How England Won The 1966 World Cup | Part One

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-was-what-it-was-the-football-history-podcast-6903590/football-s-coming-home-how-england-won-the-1966-world-cup-part-one
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-was-what-it-was-the-football-history-podcast-6903590/football-s-coming-home-how-england-won-the-1966-world-cup-part-one.md
Podcast: [It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-was-what-it-was-the-football-history-podcast-6903590)
Published: 2026-06-09T04:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/it-was-what-it-was/episodes/1966-world-cup-part-1
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6633aa7d28201200122f5638/e/6a2190321ddbe06b3ae4d05b/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/it-was-what-it-was-the-football-history-podcast-6903590/episodes/football-s-coming-home-how-england-won-the-1966-world-cup-part-one
Duration seconds: 3301

## Resource

To listen to the full four-part series instantly, subscribe to our Patreon where listeners can enjoy ad-free listening, our World Cup Wednesdays, bonus editions and live Q&A episodes. Rob Draper and Jonathan Wilson begin a four-part series revisiting England’s 1966 World Cup win by focusing on Sir Alf Ramsey’s background and the conservative England setup he inherited, including the FA selection committee and a poor early World Cup record. They argue Ramsey, often caricatured as dour, was socially conservative and xenophobic but tactically radical, demanding control of selection and modernizing England with a system-focused approach influenced by his Ipswich success, zonal marking, and experiments that questioned traditional wingers. They discuss his reserved personality, class and heritage issues, a reported instance of backing a player convicted of gross indecency, and why blaming 1966 for later English insularity is misguided. Ramsey’s early England results are mixed, but a 1964 Brazil trip helps crystallize his shift away from 4-2-4, and by April 1965 the emerging core includes Banks, Moore, Jack Charlton, and Nobby Stiles. 00:00 Meet Alf Ramsey 01:49 Ipswich Miracle Title 03:28 Ending Selection Committees 05:20 England World Cup Woes 06:50 Dour Yet Radical 09:23 Xenophobia And Origins 14:14 Was 1966 A Curse 17:28 Ramsey Playing Roots 20:36 Ipswich Tactical Experiments 24:38 Brutalism And Football 27:27 Brutalism Meets Football 31:21 Ramsey Blueprint Emerges 33:02 First Camp Shock Therapy 36:43 Early Results and Doubts 40:05 Brazil Trip Reality Check 40:43 Curfew Crackdown 46:16 Tactics Shift and New Spine 47:51 Jack Charlton and Stiles Debut 53:19 Foundations of 1966 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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