An estimated 30 million England fans prepare to tune to the Euro 2024 final

Guy Mowbray sits down in a Berlin cafe and recalls our encounter on the night that England stumbled to victory over Serbia in their first game of the tournament. Put simply, it wasn’t the most optimistic of conversations about England’s display in Gelsenkirchen but the BBC’s lead commentator recalls his own words from the end of that game.

‘I hope they (BBC) include it in the edit for the final, he says. ‘I was trying to rationalise the performance and came out with, “Teams that win tournaments tend to grow into tournaments.” I don’t tend to remember these things but I hope that ages well.’

The line has been used by England's official account on a promotional video charting the Three Lions journey to the final.

Just four days after the Serbia game, Mowbray signed off England’s 1-1 draw against Denmark with: ‘Goodness me, that was a hard watch at times.’

In a nutshell, that captured the mood of the nation then yet here England are, on the brink of breaking their 58-year tournament drought after a quite remarkable knockout run.

‘It shows how much English football has evolved under Gareth Southgate,’ says Mowbray. ‘When I grew up, the likes of Italy and Germany always found a way to go deep in tournaments. Then look at Greece in 2004 and Portugal in 2016. I understand the initial criticism towards Gareth (Southgate) but you only have to look at his numbers now.’

Being the BBC’s main man for England games is a gig shrouded in responsibility and one that Mowbray has done since taking over from John Motson as lead commentator in 2010. The 52-year-old has commentated on almost 1400 matches across his 20 years at the Beeb.

On Sunday evening when Gary Lineker passes over to him, Mowbray’s voice will narrate the action for millions across the country.

‘I’ll never prepare a script but the pressure is always there. I always have that panicky feeling in the morning when I’m having a shower or walking the dog. There’s a Word template I use for my notes which has far too much detail and I take a portable printer with me everywhere we go. Alan Shearer always shouts “Printer!” before we leave because I always leave it,’ he says.

Mowbray and Shearer will commentate on the Euro 2024 final for BBC while Sam Matterface will be joined by Lee Dixon and Ally McCoist on ITV.

‘I speak with Sam a lot. It’s nice and pretty cathartic for both of us,’ Mowbray reveals. There’s only two of us living that experience of doing England on TV during a major tournament so it’s nice to offload onto one another. It’s the best job in the world but we both know what each other’s going through,’ adds Mowbray.

England didn’t reach a final between 1966 and 2021 but for the pair of them, it will be a second in three years. For Mowbray, who grew up in York and quit studying Business at Bradford University in 1991, it is the closest thing to living his dream of being a player himself. His late father telling him he could get paid for watching football sparked a lightbulb moment to become a commentator.

‘If I wasn’t commentating, I’d move heaven and earth to be here. Before a game, I use my binoculars to read the flags around the ground. I’ll do the same on Sunday. I don’t think there’s a club in the top eight tiers that’s not been represented. That’s what it’s all about to follow your country and Gareth is a big part of that unity on and off the pitch,’ he says.

‘You only have to look at the scenes when Ollie Watkins scored. I watched a clip before I came here of England against Scotland 1975 in the British Home Championship and thinking how did we not win a trophy with players like Kevin Keegan and Alan Ball? Never mind winning, we didn’t even qualify for all four tournaments between 1972 and 1978. Think of 1984, 1994 and 2008 too. We are so lucky to be witnessing this.’

And so when Mowbray walks up the gantry and takes his seat at the Olympiastadion on Sunday evening in Berlin, he will do so both as the voice to an estimated 30 million viewers and as an England fan.

‘Millions will be watching but because I can’t see them, that’s how I try and cope,’ he says. ‘People think the media don’t want England to win but I always look back at the Iceland defeat at Euro 2016. The atmosphere in the media tent after was so low. We all want them to do well and win.’

Does he have a line prepared if football comes home?

‘Nope, he says. ‘I have a skeleton for notes of things not to miss but just look at the way we’ve scrambled home in each of the knockout rounds. Whatever comes out will come out. The best-ever line of commentary was Kenneth Wolstenholme in 1966, “They think it’s all over … it is now.” The timing was perfect.’

What would it mean to him if England beat Spain?

‘I better cry and let it out now, he says. ‘It would be the best thing ever and I reckon the warm-up act for two years time.’

FAVOURITE MOMENT OF THE EURO 2024?

Both the Jude Bellingham and Ollie Watkins goals from an England perspective simply for the feeling but that Arda Guler strike against Georgia was something else. I was right behind it and will never forget the noise inside that stadium that day. Goodness me. A 19-year-old too.

I told Sam Matterface before Turkey’s next game against Portugal to take the headset off for their anthem because it honestly had my chest coming out. What a noise.