Chins up, English football fans: the good times are back.
A 2-0 hammering of Malta, a team that sit lower than footballing powerhouses such as Vanuatu and New Caledonia in the official Fifa rankings, was the perfect way to tell the world that the Three Lions are roaring once again.
The majority of the 80,000-strong crowd that packed into Wembley on Saturday evening will have been encouraged by what they saw and will hope that this brings an end to a quite shambolic three-month period in English football.
Beginning with the embarrassing Euro 2016 exit at the hands of Iceland and the subsequent departure of Roy Hodgson and his coaching staff; ending with the the exit of his replacement Sam Allardyce, who was at the helm for just one match, things have been pretty bleak for English football of late.
One fan managed to sum it all up perfectly, unfurling this flag…
No words needed.
👏👏👏#ENGMAL: https://t.co/sWNcislvJJ pic.twitter.com/8rMITd5zpA
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) October 8, 2016
‘Roy taking us to Paris’ reads the original message, presumably scribed before England’s doomed European Championships.
‘Roy’ has been crossed out, replaced by ‘Sam’ (also crossed out) and now ‘Gareth’. With ‘Paris’ also replaced by ‘Moscow’, the venue for the 2018 World Cup final.
With Gareth Southgate only England’s manager on a caretaker basis (for the time being at least), it looks like this fan might have to get his marker pen out again in the near future.
Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday Live:
