This was supposed to be a defining summer for England’s so-called golden generation.
Reports from the time and reflections since have painted the same picture: a team carrying pressure, expectation and, eventually, distraction. England’s defeat became more than a football result; it became a referendum on the whole environment around the camp.
The report says Baden-Baden turned into a parallel show, with partners and families drawing huge attention. That, in turn, fed a tabloid frenzy around shopping, nightlife and celebrity culture.
Neville’s point was not simply about wives and girlfriends being present. His broader complaint was about the circus around the camp - the sense that England had become an entertainment story when focus should have been elsewhere.
Years later, Coleen pushed back on the tone of that criticism. “We couldn’t stay in the hotel all day - we needed to go out to eat and enjoy ourselves,” she said, arguing that claims of excess were overstated.
That is why 2006 still lingers. England did not just lose to Portugal; they lost while carrying a narrative that many felt had spun out of control. Fairly or unfairly, Baden-Baden became shorthand for a summer when image and noise appeared to crowd the football.
As England head into every new major tournament, this old story still offers a warning: talent alone is never enough, and the next off-field distraction can become part of the verdict just as quickly as the next bad result.