“Rooney picks up the ball in the centre of the park. Back to goal… he turns. He’s got Vardy and Kane for company, running at the German defence… Halfway into the German half… Vardy’s made the run! Rooney plays the ball, it’s past Hummels… Vardy’s through! Jamie Vardy for England… he’s around Neuer… he’s scored!!! Jamie Vardy’s done it – 90th minute... it’s the winner!”

Roy Hodgson smiles. Four years after he guided England to Euro 2016 glory, the voice of Clive Tyldesley still brings back happy memories of that famous night in the Stade de France. Not that it has yet been forgotten: Hodgson’s uncharacteristic knee slide along the touchline still remains the most-watched video on YouTube, and an online petition calling for King William to give him a knighthood was signed by over 10 million people.

“I remember receiving so many messages of congratulations and gratitude. David Cameron sent me a handwritten letter, describing just how absolutely chuffed he was. That was really humbling… though I remembering being confused by it too. He had added a little postscript, request for more players from his favourite team, Aston Villa, to be included in my next squad, but there was a crossed-out West Ham next to it.”

David Cameron was not the only politician grateful for the performance of Hodgson’s England; the team’s thrashing of Russia, Wales and Slovakia in the early stages of the tournament is largely credited by political commentators with causing a landslide vote in favour of Brexit. Following England’s 8–0 victory over Slovakia, Nigel Farage’s tweet – “this shows us just exactly what we can do without the help of any foreigners” – was retweeted over one million times and was featured heavily as part of the Leave campaign’s social media effort.

Hodgson – who has just returned from the set of Jamie Vardy: The Movie after filming a short cameo – remains coy about the political implications of the win, preferring to discuss instead the influence of his triumph on the game he loves.

“I continue to feel a sense of joy every time I hear about the careers of those players in my squad. It gives me great pride to know that my revolutionary tactics and ground-breaking approach to management – you know, pointing at the net and instructing them to kick towards that – has helped all these players progress.”

Indeed, after his record-breaking 16 goals throughout the tournament, Manchester United’s teenage sensation Marcus Rashford was sold to Barcelona in return for the UK gaining sovereignty over the Canary Islands, a deal described as “an absolute bargain” by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Hodgson’s captain Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, after having undertaken a course in public speaking at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, has had success as a pundit on BT Sport. As his colleague and former England teammate Michael Owen recently described, “Wayne can say lots of words about football, and for me, if a pundit cannot do that, it is always going to be tricky to have a successful punditry career.”

Hodgson, who has now learned his 20th language and is currently the face of Rosetta Stone’s TV campaign, was always confident his England team could go far.

“We always knew we would do well if we took advantage of the pace, trickery and all-round brilliance of James Milner. But the biggest sign of our impending victory for me was something I read in The Sun: they pointed out that 2016 was 50 years after 1966 and that meant we were guaranteed to win… It made sense to me, because – after all – 50 is a number.”

After overcoming the underdog label (an England victory was given 9/1 odds, the same likelihood as Jeremy Corbyn’s Fuck Tony Blair Party winning next month’s general election), Hodgson’s England went on to not only reshape and transform the English football scene, but lots more besides.

Former pop superstars One Direction – who had spent three years in pop wilderness performing in Longleat Forest Center Parcs – were catapulted back to the top of the charts with their song ‘We Finally Won Something,’ while 2017 saw a marked rise in the babies being christened ‘Gary’, ‘Dele’ and ‘Lallana’ in honour of members of the so-called Heroes of 2016.

Now with Euro 2020 just on the horizon, and England fans still hurting from being expelled from the 2018 World Cup in Russia following a diplomatic incident reportedly involving Joe Hart, Vladimir Putin and some anti-dandruff shampoo, Hodgson remains hopeful that his successor, Alan Pardew, has the opportunity to experience the same feeling of glory.

“It was one of the best achievements of my life, perhaps second only to keeping Fulham from being relegated. It was a dream come true to show the country that after all those years of hurt and confusion, not going for Harry Redknapp was not a ludicrously stupid choice.”