England.

There you go, I’ve got my Euro 24 prediction out of the way right from the off so you can skip the rest of the column if you like, and go and do something useful like rearrange your sock drawer or perm your teeth.

Alternatively, you can hang around for a bit and see if there is any method behind my madness. After all, we are talking about a national team here that hasn’t won anything for the best part of half a century.

To put that perspective, the last time England lifted a trophy was when The Beatles were at their peak, Australians were coming to terms with their revolutionary decimal currency, Vietnam war protests were regular occurrences in America and future football legends Eric Cantona, Gianfranco Zola and Hristo Stoichkov were busy getting born.

As you can see, it’s been a while. So why now? Why is this the time England will finally break free from the shackles of their trophy jinx?

Somehow, this time, it doesn’t feel like I am jinxing anything by predicting an England victory

Well, put simply, it’s all about the players. More precisely, it’s all about the front six.

To be fair, the other areas of the squad are not devoid of talent. In goal, Jordan Pickford has developed into a top-class keeper and has very adequate backup in Aaron Ramsdale and Dean Henderson, while the defence might not be ‘Italian’ in terms of impregnability, but the likes of John Stones, Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw can hold their own on the international stage.

But once you get past the back four, things get proper exciting. Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Adam Wharton, Conor Gallagher, Trent Alexander Arnold, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Ivan Toney, Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze, Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen – it is a veritable embarrassment of riches that just about any other country in the tournament would love to have access to.

And that’s before we have even mentioned a certain young lad called Jude Bellingham. Fresh from a Champions League victory and on the back of an incredible first season with Real Madrid, Bellingham is probably the most complete midfielder in world football right now.

Normally you would worry that pressure and expectation would take its toll on someone of his relatively young age. But he has shown over the past couple of years that not only can he cope with it, but that he actually thrives on it. He is very much the real deal.

No other team at Euro 24 will want to face a starting line-up likely to include Bellingham, Rice, Alexander Arnold, Foden, Saka and Kane. It has power, pace, skill and trickery in devastating quantities. And if one or two of those are having an off day, then the manager can bring on Mainoo, Wharton, Palmer, Eze or Watkins to spice the party up a bit.

As I said, it just feels like there is too much talent and ability in this England team for this not to be their year. However, there are a couple of caveats to my prediction...

Firstly, there is the small matter of the opposition.

France, Portugal, Spain and Belgium are all top teams with great players, all of whom will also be going into Euro 24 thinking this could be their year. Then, of course, there is the host nation, and only a fool would ever rule out Germany on home soil. Italy too may not be the force they once were, but they are the sort of team that can go into a tournament with everyone expecting them to get knocked out in the group stage and somehow conspire to win the whole thing.

So, on the basis of the competition alone, I don’t make my England prediction likely. I just suspect that on any given day this group of England players would have enough about them to take out any one of the above.

But this is where my second reservation comes into play – while there is no doubt England have a dream squad, the manager is still a bit of a nightmare. I genuinely believe Gareth Southgate is a liability when it comes to England’s chances of lifting the trophy.

He comes across as a lovely chap and I would be very happy if my daughter one day ended up marrying someone cut from the same cloth. But he isn’t now, never was and never will be a top-level football manager.

As I have said before, but am happy to reiterate, if England are successful in Germany or indeed at any point while Southgate remains in charge, it will be despite his presence on the touchline, not because of it.

This team is screaming out for a manager who is brave, decisive, adventurous and prepared to throw caution to the wind. Nobody can tell me those are the characteristics you think of when you picture Southgate in your mind.

His fans talk about his tournament record as England manager: semi-final, final, quarter-final. But you will notice that all three have something in common – they ended in failure. Realistically it was the players that dragged England to those heady heights. But getting them over the trophy line needed a manager capable of giving them a final push, making that last tactical tweak or magical substitution. None of those ever came.

We will, inevitably, have a better idea of where things stand this evening when England face Serbia in their opening group game. I am hoping last week’s friendly defeat to Iceland may have just been a blip, a game where the effort was not what it should be because nobody wanted to pick up a stupid injury before the proper business starts.

If it wasn’t that and it was down to Southgate once again not having the vaguest clue how to set up, prepare and motivate his team, then my prediction could have totally fallen apart within a week.

But somehow, this time, it doesn’t feel like I am jinxing anything by predicting an England victory.

Despite the high calibre of the opponents, despite the Kane curse, and despite Southgate prowling the touchline, I am still firmly of the opinion that football is coming home and the years of hurt are coming to an end.

The drawback to that will be Southgate taking the plaudits, getting his knighthood and signing a new 10-year contract despite him having little or nothing to do with the triumph.

But I’m pretty sure England fans everywhere will put up with that pain if it means we finally get a taste of tournament pleasure....

E-mail: james.calvert@timesofmalta.com

Twitter: @maltablade