England slipped out of the last World Cup with a gentle whimper after a bottom place finish in their group stage as national expectations hit an all-time low.
Two years earlier at Euro 2012, Roy Hodgson's Three Lions had done reasonably well in the group stage, only for all the old problems to come biting back with a vengeance against Italy in the quarter-finals.
As if 2014 has already been forgotten, hype is slowly starting to build around Hodgson's new-look squad again. But it begs the question: what would actually constitute a good summer for England?
Given that England consider themselves a nation that should be challenging for the trophy at every major tournament, are rarely out of FIFA's top 10 in the world rankings, and qualified strongly, yet again, a semi-final appearance should be of minimum expectation.
But based on the country's past record in the Euros, just winning a knock-out game would be something to be hugely proud of. Why? Because it just does not happen.
England's overall record in European Championships is quite poor. To put it bluntly, the Three Lions have never won a Euro knock-out game on foreign soil.
Technically, the quarter-final over Spain at 'home' in 1996 was a 0-0 draw decided by penalty, so it could even be argued that England have never actually won a Euro knock-out game, period.
Having not entered and not qualified in 1960 and 1964 respectively, Alf Ramsey's reigning world champions finished third in the Euro '68 when there were only four teams in the competition. England were beaten by Yugoslavia in the semi-finals and then won the third place play-off against the Soviet Union - not a knock-out game.
The English didn't even qualify again until 1980, and that ended with a group stage exit in Italy. England were again a no-show in 1984, while further early group stage eliminations followed at the finals in both 1988 and 1992.
The aforementioned Euro '96 semi-final was a rare blip in England's history of continental failure, but as already explained does not quite give the whole story at face value.
Four years later, Euro 2000 ended in more group stage misery, while the famed golden generation couldn't get beyond the quarter-finals in 2004, or even qualify at all in 2008. Euro 2012 was another distinct disappointment that ended in a penalty shoot-out defeat, which flattered England because the game should have been long over after total Italian domination.
Euro 2016 represents the first time that 24 countries will be competing at the Championships. It makes it easier to get out of the first round, with as many as three team qualifying from four of the six groups, but there is also an additional knock-out round to bypass in order to reach the final.
England should fancy themselves to get through the group stage, failure to do so would be absolutely catastrophic and an ever worse new low than 2014. In theory, the larger tournament should also dilute the the round of 16 somewhat, giving Hodgson's men their best chance yet to finally break a 56-year European hoodoo.
Would winning one knock-out game and getting into the quarter-finals make the summer a success? It would certainly be a start.
"?England's European Championship Campaigns Since 1960:
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