I WAS only 10 at the time (honest), but I remember the 1990 World Cup like it was yesterday. The power of Nessun Dorma reverberating through my adolescent frame. The mascot. The disgust, even at that age, of Frank Rijkaard unloading spittle at Rudi Voller in the San Siro.

Then there was England, Gazza and those penalty misses against West Germany. Italia 90 was my 1966. Memories that would last forever.

Which is perhaps, partly at least, why I simply cannot get as enthused about Euro 2016.

While much of that apathy towards the tournament, which started last night, can be placed at the door of age and increasing grumpiness in more recent years, football no longer provides the escapism, the innocence, that it did 26 years ago. Certainly not for me.

Much of the print material I've consumed in recent days has focused not on the Beautiful Game but the ugly profile of our world in 2016. The images that stick in the mind are no longer of Paul Gascoigne's Euro 96 dentist chair celebration against Scotland, or the moment Marco van Basten connected with the ball in the final against the Soviet Union in 1988, but of armed troops. Hundreds of them. The words on the pages now focus on the French interior ministry app that alerts you when a terror attack is taking place close by.

The escapism has been superceded by a desire, from many, to escape Euro 2016 itself. Fear and dread has replaced innocence. For others, ignorance is bliss.

England player briefings this week have not been about team shape or tactics but focused on what to do if what we all fear will happen actually does.

All of which is a sign of these testing times. We'll never have another 1990, or another 1996, where the England coach could leave the hotel and drive to the ground without an armed escort. Where fans could set up 'camp' outside the team hotels and be assured of clapping eyes on their heroes.

The heroes for football fans in 2016 are no longer the players, but the armour-clad troops and the intelligence organisations.

But Euro 2016 still has a chance to reignite the feelings of 1990 and 1996. It has the talent on show, the Parisian backdrop, the stadiums and the razzamatazz modern day sporting events have over those from years gone by.

But when the final whistle goes in the Stade de France on July 10 and the trophy is lifted, all we can do is hope that the only everlasting memory is the football.