World Cup heroes star at the Civic
England's heroes of '66 make a timely trip to Wolverhampton tomorrow just as the nation's football lovers are getting to grips with the World Cup finals draw.
England's heroes of '66 make a timely trip to Wolverhampton tomorrow just as the nation's football lovers are getting to grips with the World Cup finals draw.
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Eight members of the legendary 1966 winning team will be at Wolverhampton Civic Hall for a special night in which they will look back at England's solitary triumph in the tournament - and ahead to the campaign being led by Fabio Capello.
The special World Cup Winners Theatre Show will feature Gordon Banks, Sir Geoff Hurst, George Cohen, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Roger Hunt and Martin Peters.
And the night will have a special guest host in Jimmy Greaves, who was England's most feared striker going into the tournament but lost his place to Hurst because of injury.
The old stars will reminisce about the most talked-about triumph in the English game barely an hour after the draw for next summer's finals has been staged in South Africa.
Confirmation that England had been seeded improved their chances of emulating the boys of '66 in the eyes of the bookmakers, who have been busy calculating the best and worst scenarios for Capello's squad.
They reckon the best outcome for England from the draw would see them in a meeting New Zealand (999-1), Algeria (379-1) and Slovakia (309-1) in the group stages of the finals. The nightmare scenario for Capello, according to the bookies, would pitch them against against France (18-1), Ivory Coast (25-1) and Australia (119-1).
At 5-1, Spain and Brazil are still joint favourites while 11-1 shots England have familiar adversaries breathing down their necks in Argentina (13) and Germany (16).
In 1966 Hurst and Co beat Argentina in the quarter-finals and Germany - then West Germany - in the final while overcoming another of the teams to have brought them World Cup heartache in recent years, Portugal, in the semis.
Tomorrow's event kicks off at 7.30pm and there are still places available ranging from general tickets via the Civic box office (0870 320 7000) to special VIP tickets - complete with a chance to meet and have a picture taken with the stars - available by calling 01202 475600.
