The start of a new English era in football?

The strains of Liverpool anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ could be heard long into the early hours of Sunday in Madrid after the Anfield side beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 to win the Champions League final.While the fans and players of the victorious side celebrated, English football in general could pause to reflect whether this is the start of a glorious new era or a blip in the recent Spanish domination of the event.Liverpool, from their own point of view, are in little doubt.“We have more things to come,” said winger Sadio Mane. “We will do everything to win [more] trophies with this squad.”Senegal’s Mane buzzed round tirelessly across the wide expanse of the Wanda Metropolitano pitch, capitalising on long balls from Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk. Egyptian Mohamed Salah scored the early penalty won by Mane while Belgium’s Divock Origi made the game safe late on from German-born Cameroon international Joel Matip’s pass.After the match, German coach Juergen Klopp could praise the club’s American owners for their understanding as he built his squad.Cynics could question just how much England provides to Liverpool these days beyond a fanatical supporter base and television money capable drawing some of the best players in the world.In a different era, England provided six consecutive European champions 1977-1982 and a finalist in eight of the nine years 1977-1985. That ended with a ban for Liverpool’s involvement in the Heysel stadium disaster.Post-television boom, in the modern Champions League, England provided eight finalists, and three winners, in the eight years from 2005-2012.This season, for the first time ever, they swept all four final spots as Chelsea downed London rivals Arsenal in the Europa League.“It’s been an incredible couple of weeks for English football really, both with the European ties and in the Championship play-offs, all really exciting matches and the start of trophies being handed out,” England manager Gareth Southgate said ahead of the finals.Liverpool do have an English heart beating strongly in their squad, not least from inspirational captain Jordan Henderson and young full back Trent Alexander-Arnold, at 20 already one of the best anywhere in his position. Henderson and Alexander-Arnold were the only English starters in Madrid though the bench had a few more. Tottenham had five domestic players in their starting eleven, including England captain Harry Kane.Lacking sharpness after injury, Kane was particularly poor in a drab Spurs performance. But he will have the chance to redeem himself next week when England play the Nations League finals in Portugal. Victory there, combined with both club continental titles, would surely confirm England have the potential to take an iron grip on European football, in much the same way as Spain did at the start of the decade.