WE ALL look to the influences of our childhood or formative years as being the “best of times”. The things that informed our thinking, philosophy, social position, relationships and work ethos act as benchmarks later in life. The exception is fashion, where we all cringe at what we used to wear, mainly because what was de rigeur for a teenager will never be acceptable for a calcified, expansive and follically-challenged middle-aged man. We all become Reginald Perrin or Victor Meldrew, after all. If you were approaching, or in the midst of, your teenage years when legendary figures like Pele, Cruyff and Beckenbauer were at their peak, World Cups 1970 and 1974 are the litmus test for any successive competition. If you were born between,…