Football FanCast columnist Joe Jennings feels that despite England's past failings, we as a nation should never stop believing.

There are scant things that appear to make people as hubristic of being English as a major football tournament. Whether it is the World Cup or the European Championship, England seems to become a sea of St George's Cross flags.

At the same time, football appears on the front page of every newspaper as well as the back, and people who show no interest in football at any other time of year abruptly and somewhat unexpectedly care deeply about the health of England's finest metatarsals.

Yet are such reactions really signs of patriotism or just a love of football- or bandwagon jumping? Can you really talk about Englishness without football? I find it impossible. Football is what makes us who we are; it is a major footprint of our identity as a nation. We are pompous at the fact we invented the greatest game in the world, we adopt an arrogance; we expect.

It's almost become swanky to champion the fact that England's absence made Euro 2008 a more watchable experience. Traditionally, England underachieves, this year we haven't had to go through the heartbreak that comes through support. However, if we really didn't care, appreciated England's absence, would we have been so disgusted at failure to qualify?

Without heartache the game would be meaningless and it is what makes the unmarred times so much better, the tournament will forever be missing something to me minus England there but I am keeping my chin up, hoping, believing that one day, England's glory will arrive.

Can anything surpass the weeks of anticipation leading to a major competition? Should we really endorse the notion that the tournament is "better off without England?"

Undoubtedly, the tournament proved gripping, but England's involvement would not only have made the competition far more applicable, but more exhilarating, spicy and provocative. Yet however short and agonising, it would have supplied the nation with that collective adrenalin swell that we all not only need, but we desire and yet rarely obtain. Football is about togetherness and belonging, which is why this country is so special.

Many of us will have been in a pub, crammed to the rafters with eager abiding fans, fuelled with optimism, or possibly the beer, and simply admiring what they see before them. The realisation that for a few weeks at least, we as a nation are as one - in one breath - with one accord - with one voice.

A fair few tend to proclaim they "couldn't care less if England never played again", is that an angered, possibly ignorant English platitude? Sure, there are many things that infuriate me about Everton, but I will support them forever nonetheless. Surely the same could and potentially should apply with England; it is where we are bred. Those distancing themselves from England, surely they are only increasing divisions and fuelling stereotypes?

I not only understand, but fully comprehend the endless reasons why many despise the England team, many of which I tend to agree with. But we are England, why give up on something we are proud to say we created? Who cannot cherish how when a tournament arrives, rivalries are forgotten and everyone pulls together, all for one, one for all? Who can shirk away from the incredible games, always desperately tense yet truly mesmerising as it means so much?

In my opinion, many are still hurting from not only the embarrassment supplied and served up from McClaren, but the vacant position of England in a tournament we all would have valiantly believed with all of our hearts we could have triumphed in. The anguish should ignite a revolution within our national side, a change of mentality. We can only hope our Italian Stallion can supply us with the glory and triumph that would not only win over the bountiful doubters, but appease the needs of an abiding nation, so desperate for something to feel proud about. Never lose face, never ever, lose faith.