An England superfan is heading to his ninth World Cup – but amid a ban on beer in stadiums and human rights controversies, it is set to be a tournament like no other.

From Maradona’s Hand of God goal at Mexico '86 to penalty shoot-out agony at Italia '90 and a near-miss in Russia four years ago, Kent bricklayer Terry Matson has seen it all and kept every ticket.

His love of football takes him to Qatar, where Gareth Southgate’s men kick off their Group B campaign against Iran in the capital city of Doha tomorrow (Monday).

He travels more in hope than expectation after years of false dawns since attending his first World Cup in Spain in 1982 – a 21st birthday present from his parents.

“I don’t make predictions any more,” says Terry, 61, who lives in Sittingbourne.

“I haven’t got a clue what’s going to happen. That’s down to Gareth Southgate and the players.

“I could say we’re going to go there with the best squad and we’re going to do this and that, and then you get out there and it never happens like that.

“When you’ve been going to World Cups since 1982, you’ve listened to so many excuses.

“At the end of the day, you’re not good enough, you’re not up for it, or the tactics are all wrong or the manager’s not good enough. That’s normally why you go out.

“I’m going there with no expectations. Let’s just see what happens.”

Over the last 40 years, Terry has been all over globe to roar on the Three Lions but this will be his first time watching them take centre stage in the Arab world.

Qatar is reported to have spent in excess of £185 billion hosting the World Cup, dwarfing the £11.6bn the Russians piled into the tournament.

But as the 32 teams gather in Doha for the football showpiece which starts today the country's human rights record is also being thrown into the spotlight.

It comes amid ongoing suffering among workers, women and the LGBTQ+ community in the country.

"I'm totally against all that," says Terry, pointing out his concerns about human rights abuses. "You can't say you don't want LGBTQ+ people here."

Terry doesn't believe Qatar should have been awarded hosting rights in the first place but adds a "one-man" boycott is ineffective.

"It means more to them at the top than everyone else," he says.

The Arsenal fan also says organising his trip to the Middle East has been "more hassle" than past tournaments with "email after email" and money wasted on PCR tests that are no longer needed.

The sale of alcohol is strictly controlled in Qatar and an 11th hour u-turn on the sale of beer in stadiums has also riled fans.

"They are making up the rules as they go along," Terry says. "It's nice to be outside the stadium and have a beer, especially when it is hot. But it is their country and their rules."

Although he quips the decision by Qatar to renege on its contract with Budweiser – the official beer brand – could be a blessing in disguise as he only drinks it "if it is really warm outside".

But if there is one thing Terry knows from his past trips to foreign lands – it is to expect the unexpected.

Terry has missed only two World Cups since attending Spain, where England – under the old format – were eliminated after the second group stage.

He stayed at home for USA '94 following England’s failure to qualify and was forced to miss France '98 at the last minute after suffering a trapped nerve in his back.

“How ironic,” says Terry. “The closest World Cup to home and I had to miss it. It was the sciatic nerve. The pain was excruciating.”

We’ve all sat there watching the telly, at home or down the pub, as England exit another World Cup that should have been theirs.

But imagine being there and witnessing first-hand all those moments that have gone down in history.

Of all the hard-luck stories, Maradona’s infamous Hand of God goal that helped Argentina knock England out in the quarter-finals in 1986 is perhaps the most talked about.

The semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat by West Germany in Italia '90 isn’t far behind it.

“We didn’t know for sure that Maradona had handballed it,” recalled Terry.

“There were no screens at the stadium in those days and we were down the other end.

“Rumour got round because we saw Peter Shilton putting his hand up and it only takes one person to say he must have punched it in the net.

“It wasn’t till we got back to the hotel in the evening or in the bar afterwards that we saw the replays and found out.

“The other goal he scored that day was incredible - he went past about five England players, I’ll give him that - but he ruined my World Cup.

“You do get caught up in quite a lot of political situations following England.”

“I’d saved up and waited all that time to go out there and he did that.

“There weren’t many England fans - we were heavily outnumbered by the Argentina fans and the Mexicans seemed to be supporting them, too.

“We got held back at the bottom of the staircase after the game and the Argentina fans came round to bait us.

“All this was only four years after the Falklands War, of course, and there were problems throughout the evening.

“You do get caught up in quite a lot of political situations following England.”

Italia '90 set the tone for England’s bad luck with penalty shoot-outs, as Bobby Robson’s side lost to West Germany.

They returned as heroes after a difficult period for English football as a whole, with clubs banned from European competition in light of the 1985 Heysel disaster.

“I’ve never seen so many England fans who, emotionally, couldn’t handle what happened after the Germany game,” said Terry, who six years earlier had the pleasure of meeting Robson at a hotel in South America, where the Three Lions were on tour.

“We thought that was the nearest we were going to get to seeing England win another World Cup.

“There were so many people crying outside, but that’s football.

“It was a decade of football hooligans, you had the miners’ strikes, the Brixton riots, the Toxteth riots, the country was full of conflict and aggression.

“It was anarchy leading up to that tournament, with fighting on the terraces and all that. It wasn’t a good place.

“We gave our all in that semi-final but it wasn’t enough. When you go out of the World Cup, you just want to get home, but it seemed to take forever to get back.”

The chance to visit the Far East - a part of the world Terry never expected to see - made the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea one to remember.

He saw David Beckham’s penalty sink Argentina in the group stage but there was more misery as Ronaldinho lobbed David Seaman from 40 yards as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side lost 2-1 to Brazil in the quarter-finals.

Four years later, in Germany, this was supposed to be England’s time, with the so-called golden generation.

Terry had a result when, ticketless for the quarter-final against Portugal, he was offered a free seat in the hospitality section by a fellow England fan outside the ground.

Wayne Rooney’s red card left Eriksson’s side up against it and they were knocked out on penalties.

That was the one tournament where Terry made the mistake of thinking England were on to something.

“I thought we had a good chance of winning that one,” he said.

“I had a stroke of luck getting the ticket. I had £500 rolled up and this bloke came up and said he had a spare ticket.

“He was in a group of four who worked for an electrical company and one of the partners couldn’t make it.

“He wouldn’t take any money for it, I just had to buy him a couple of programmes.

“As we got to the turnstiles, he asked me who I supported. I smiled and he said, ‘You aren’t an Arsenal fan, are you?’. It turned out he was a Spurs season-ticket holder.

“We had a three-course meal, German brass bands, free beer…it was great. But, obviously, the usual thing happened with England and we lost that one.”

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa provided more disappointment on the pitch as England, after limping through the group stage, crashed 4-1 to Germany in the second round.

But it goes down as Terry’s favourite, as it gave him the chance to return to a country he had visited with his dad.

“All the World Cup trips have been good in their different ways,” he said. “Spain, as the first one; Mexico, for the sun and the sea and the heat; Germany, for the drinking and the friends we made.

“But I like my military history and there’s a lot of history in South Africa, with the Zulu War and the Boer War.

“I’d been there with my late father to visit the battlefields and so to be able to go there with friends, that just tips it for me as my favourite.

“It was a disaster on the pitch and we were even worse in Brazil four years later, where we were out after two games.

“I’ve certainly seen some places. The Far East was somewhere I never thought I’d get to go - that was brilliant - and then going into deepest Russia to Volgograd and seeing trams that probably survived the Second World War still going.

“I’ve spent thousands over the years but, like I always say, if you can afford to put away £25 a week - some people spend that on cigarettes - that’s £100 a month, £1,200 a year and in four years you’ve got £4,800. There’s your World Cup money.”