"Perhaps the death of optimism is just what happens when you reach middle age, that you recognise how cruel and capricious the world can be, how the brightest dreams are sullied and perverted, and so cynicism becomes the natural mode. But in the summer of 1996, it felt like everything was moving in the right direction. Perhaps every generation goes through this, but looking back, two decades on, it’s hard to escape the thought that we blew it."

Episode 41 of the Blizzard Podcast features 'The Best Summer of My Life', Jonathan Wilson's editorial from Issue Twenty One which is available to subscribers now and goes on general sale from the 10th June.

Something of a Euros special, the issue features articles on Pavel Vrba, Leonid Slutsky, André-Pierre Gignac, the Albania-Serbia drone controversy, as well as looking back to games at Euro 84, Euro 76 and a photo essay on the great Hungarian sides of the 50s.

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Issue Twenty One, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis from www.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while print versions are available from £6 + postage (RRP £12). You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.