THE Rugby World Cup triumph brought England together as a jubilant sporting nation for the first time since 1966.

It also whetted the appetite for more national success in other sports. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen this year.

The expectations raised by Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson and the rest of the Sweet Chariot heroes at the end of 2003 will prove far too great for our footballers and athletes to live up to in 2004.

With the vast majority of English footballers unable to play regularly at the highest level because of the dominant presence of foreigners in the Premiership, it will be all we could realistically expect for England to reach the last four at Euro 2004 in Portugal.

Dwain Chambers is almost certain to be ruled out of the Olympics for failing a drug test. And so for those of us who remember Coe, Ovett, Cram and Christie, it is going to be an embarrassment watching our athletes of today return with a miserable medal haul from Athens.

The one runner who can buck the trend is Paula Radcliffe if she produces the world-beating form she has shown on the roads for the last two years.

She is one of the greatest and most dedicated sportspeople this country has ever produced.

Watching her do all the work, only to have her lack of sprint speed exposed on the final lap of virtually every top-class competition, has been heartbreaking.

She deserves to win Olympic gold and then be voted Sports Personality of the Year.

This will surely be her last chance of winning the ultimate accolade -- as it might well be for Tim Henman to take the men's singles title at Wimbledon. Many people have long believes it to be inevitable that Henman would win Wimbledon one day, and he will never have a better chance than this year.

He is in good form, good spirits and finally enjoying a lengthy spell clear of injury. If he doesn't win it this year, he probably never will.

This year will also witness the last fights of boxing legend Lennox Lewis. He will finish as World Heavyweight Champion, unless he does his trick of taking too lightly those opponents he believes he can overcome with ease.

The biggest boxing hope is that Audley Harrison speeds up his progress by taking on useful opponents while the nation will be willing Matthew Pinsent on to a fourth Olympic rowing gold.

But my biggest sporting hope has nothing to do with our individual sporting heroes, and everything to do with the future structure of our most popular national sport.

I hope that in 2004 we find out what the G14 group -- consisting of Europe's 18 biggest football clubs -- is up to. Speculation suggests that Chelsea and Celtic could be asked to make it a 20-strong organisation and it is time we found out what its plans are.

Let's face it, they don't meet to discuss the weather.

Their discussions have a purpose, but nobody knows what it is. So the conspiracy theorists are left to have a field day. Clearly the likes of Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Inter and AC Milan are in G14 to benefit from each other. Are they laying the foundations for a breakaway European Super League?

Maybe 2004 will provide the answer. I just hope that the sporting year does not produce too many disappointments.