“Take a sad song and make it better.”
There are worse pieces of advice to build an England career on given the history of England at World Cups and European Championships for players and fans alike.
Four years ago, when we were in Qatar for the World Cup, Jude Bellingham looked like England’s football future arriving early. Nineteen years old. Fearless. Effortless. The best teenager many of us had ever seen wearing an England shirt.
He wasn’t just playing in a World Cup. He looked like he owned it.
The years that followed only reinforced that feeling. Borussia Dortmund. Real Madrid. Champions League nights. El Clásicos. Individual awards. Headlines. Everywhere you looked, there was another reminder that Jude Bellingham wasn’t simply England’s best young player – he might well become England’s greatest.
But greatness seems to be funny thing. Talent gets you noticed. But character gets you remembered.
Watching England over these last four years, there have been moments when Jude has looked like he wanted to carry every attack, every expectation and perhaps every criticism on his own shoulders. That’s hardly surprising. All of us England fans wanted him to be our hero.
Perhaps he wanted that too. But football has a habit of teaching the same lesson over and over again.
No one wins the World Cup on their own in my book.
Not Pelé. Not Maradona. Not Zidane and not even Messi although plenty will try and tell you Argentina are a one man team. They weren’t four years ago and they are not now.
When Argentina finally lifted the trophy in Qatar, it wasn’t because Lionel Messi carried eleven men. He was magnificent, but he was surrounded by teammates who elevated him just as he elevated them. Emiliano Martínez made defining saves. Cristian Romero marshalled the defence. Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernández controlled midfield. Julián Álvarez stretched defences and scored crucial goals. Ángel Di María delivered when it mattered most.
That’s how World Cups are won.
The golden generations that promised everything often became collections of brilliant individuals rather than one brilliant team.
England have learnt that lesson more painfully than most.
Which brings me back to Jude. Watching this World Cup, something feels different.
The goals are still there. The quality is still breathtaking. Against Mexico he produced the kind of performance that reminded everyone why he is one of the world’s outstanding footballers, driving England into the quarter-finals with authority. Jude was a warrior.
But what has caught my eye isn’t just what he’s doing with the ball. It’s what he’s doing without it.
The celebrations. The encouragement. The tracking back. The willingness to let others have their moment. Maybe it’s age. Maybe it’s experience.
Maybe playing alongside some of the biggest personalities in world football every week at Real Madrid teaches you that the truly elite don’t need every camera pointing at them.
Or maybe, just maybe, Jude has been listening to The Beatles.
‘Hey Jude’ isn’t really about being perfect.
It’s about opening your heart rather than trying to carry the world on your own (shoulders). It’s about letting other people in. Understanding that the movement around you matters just as much as your own.
https://youtu.be/A_MjCqQoLLA?is=kVxXkuthLvyNAFAx
England’s greatest tournament sides have always had stars. But they’ve only ever looked capable of lifting trophies when those stars became real constellations. And let’s face it, we haven’t had much of that in our lifetimes.
For me, that could be the difference now.
Harry Kane no longer has to be everything. Saka doesn’t have to create every chance. Rice doesn’t have to fight every battle.
And Jude Bellingham doesn’t have to prove with every touch that he’s the best player on the pitch. Everyone watching already knows this.
Ironically, the less he seems determined to show it, the more obvious it becomes. For me that’s maturity.
And maybe that’s the journey we’ve all been watching since Qatar.
Not from the wonderkid to a superstar, but from superstar to teammate.
If England are to win this World Cup, history probably won’t remember every pass Jude Bellingham makes.
It will remember the medals. Because that’s what happens. The team gets remembered. Not the ego.
Perhaps that’s the real message hidden inside Hey Jude. The song was never telling Jude to become less. It was encouraging him to become more.
More open. More generous. More connected. More of a team player.
And if that’s the journey we’ve witnessed over these last four years, England may just have found something far more valuable than another world-class footballer.
We may have found a leader who Harry Kane can hand the baton on to.
Meantime, let’s hope St Jude and King Harry can prevail against Erling and his boys today.
And here’s what I said on BBC5Live earlier about the game. Let’s make sure we score three. We will need to, as Erling will get two. He always does.
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