November
England are 1-0 up at Wembley in a World Cup qualification play-off against Croatia when Luka Modric strikes a shot that hits the bar and bounces over the line. The referee initially waves play on, but the new technology alerts him to the fact that a goal has been scored. England go on to lose, and the backlash is savage.

“Our brave boys have been cheated out of Brazil 2014 by Sepp Blatter’s Fifa cronies,” reads one tabloid editorial. “Nobody in this country wanted goal-line technology. When will the Euro-crats learn to stop meddling with our game?” Roy Hodgson is sacked as manager, only to be swiftly reinstated when Steve McClaren emerges as an early favourite.