Xuenou > Featured > New stats prove England’s ITV curse is far from a myth – and fans beg for channel change
New stats prove England’s ITV curse is far from a myth – and fans beg for channel change
New stats prove England's ITV curse is far from a myth - and fans beg for channel change,England and Gareth Southgate saw their World Cup campaign hit a huge USA sized stumbling block on the weekend but there could be a more shocking reason behind their dismal performance

New stats prove England’s ITV curse is far from a myth – and fans beg for channel change

New stats appear to prove that England’s so-called 'ITV curse' is real – and it has left fans begging for a channel change.

England’s World Cup campaign was once again halted by the USA on Friday night, who extended their unbeaten streak against the Three Lions in major tournaments to three matches. It means England still require a positive result against Wales in their final group game.

Gareth Southgate’s side were frustrated by their neighbours across the pond who also created the better chances throughout the contest. But eagle-eyed fans noticed that the game was being shown live on ITV – rather than the BBC.

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Southgate may be terrified every time he sees an ITV microphone
Southgate may be terrified every time he sees an ITV microphone

Football enthusiast Dean Ayass tried to warn everybody on the day of the contest. “England vs USA in FIFA World Cup is on ITV! Beware!” he began. “England have only won 14% of their games shown on ITV compared to 73% when shown on BBC1! The Curse of ITV is real!”

If only television bosses tried to listen to him. His jaw-dropping statistics date back to the 1998 World Cup when England lost 2-1 to Romania on ITV – you would’ve thought television bosses would have listened to the first warning!

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Sadly, they didn’t as ITV’s next match saw the Three Lions depart the 1998 tournament to Argentina on the dreaded penalty shootout, soon after David Beckham saw red for his little flick on Diego Simeone. In fact, the first victory came in the 2006 World Cup when England only just overcame Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 – even that was only secured by a Steven Gerrard wonder goal and Peter Crouch grabbing a defender’s dreadlocks to hoist himself up for a header.

Predictably, England also departed that tournament on ITV after losing another penalty shootout to Portugal. Draws against Algeria and the USA in the dreadful 2010 World Cup also happened on ITV, while England’s losses to Belgium in the group stage and the third place play off in the 2018 World Cup, not to mention the heart-breaking semi-final exit to Croatia, were all hosted by, you guessed it, ITV.

England just could not get a grip of the contest
England just could not get a grip of the contest (Image: Zabulon Laurent/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock)

And fans only know there is one thing to do – oust ITV immediately. “Take one for the team and give BBC every game,” one fan said on social media. “We just need to ban ITV from televising England games. Everyone knows this,” another fan added.

“This is why England internationals should never ever be on ITV. Please stop it now,” another terrified England supporter said on Twitter, before another added, “Yeah, BBC rest of the tournament please.”

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