The World Cup trophy's raw metal is worth £658,693 – up from just £2,498 in 1966

Forget the trophy. Look at what it tells you about the pound. The same lump of gold was worth £2,498 in 1966. Today it is worth £658,693. The metal has not changed. The cup is the same cup. What has collapsed is the money used to price it. That is a 264 fold rise, and it is not because gold became precious. It is because sterling has been debased, year after year, by governments that spend what they do not have and central banks that print to cover the gap. Gold holds still while paper currencies sink around it. And yes, it would have been worth more in March. Gold sat above $5,000 an ounce then. It has since slipped back near $4,300. But that is noise. England lifting the trophy is a coin toss. Sterling losing more of its value is closer to a certainty.

So all along, our savvy footballers have just been waiting for it to appreciate before bringing it home!

The World Cup trophy is now worth serious money in raw metal terms, which is more than can be said for England’s recent performances. The gold story is a neat reminder that 1966 keeps getting further away, and more expensive. On March pricing, it depends which point you pick- gold was volatile, so at the highs the trophy would likely have been worth more, but not across the whole month. As for England lifting it, hope is doing a lot of heavy lifting. We have the talent, but England have made an art form of turning golden chances into base metal.