8 years in the planning! For the majority of England fans the last opportunity for a jaunt abroad to watch their team was in France at Euro 2016. Russia in 2018 was deemed too dangerous, Euro 2020 was Covid affected and basically a home tournament. The World Cup in 2022 was too expensive and controversial meaning the target for many, including my group of friends was Germany, Euro 2024.
A trip down memory lane for many of the group as they last watched England on a similar adventure for the World Cup here back in 2006.
And we’re off
And the time was now, work laptop closed, out of office set and off we went on our marathon journey. An initial 6 hour drive in the pouring rain down to Dover for the evening before sailing off to France the following day. We arrived in enough time to squeeze in a few aptly named pints of ‘Coming Home’ in the Dover Wetherspoons. We sure hoped so.
Morning brought bright sunshine and a seamless crossing over to the famous town of Dunkirk. We paid our respects to those that fought bravely so many years ago with a short visit to the beach.
Another 300km via Belgium got us to our destination for the evening. A beautiful chalet on the Dutch-German border which gave us the perfect location to cook up a good hearty meal and get the crates out to toast the opening of the tournament.
The perfect start
We sat back and watched as the hosts dissected the Scottish defence and put out a warning to all the other nations that Germany were well capable of challenging for the title, but this wasn’t going to stop the Tartan Army who were lighting up the tournament with their bagpipes, passionate singing and great spirit. Simply qualifying for their first away tournament since 1998 was as good as winning the tournament for them.
A quick stock up at Aldi and some alternative Dutch supplies and off we went over the border into Germany. Finally we were here, one of my favourite countries in the world where every aspect of life simply feels like it’s done well.
With no accommodation or campsite booked it was a case of suck it and see. After swinging by the fan zones we got directions for the nearest campsite that was due to be flooded with England fans. We drove on there, pitched up the tent and the rest was history, after a couple of weeks of concern about what we’d do if it went wrong we literally had the perfect solution and without a penny spent.
Bonza
Our set up was quite something, a huge 10 man tent, Gazebo and a camper van with a TV so we could watch the football. Absolutely brilliant. After the days footy finished our new camp neighbours popped over for a chat and lo and behold, unbeknownst to me, it was England’s most famous fan, he joined us for a few Guiness and regaled stories of his fame from Qatar. Andy or ‘World Cup Man’ as he was known was great craic and had plenty of memories from his previous trips following England.
After the long build up, match day was finally here. We jumped on the tram to the centre to soak up the vibes. Unfortunately the windy weather and cold temperatures didn’t help the mood too much. Despite that everyone was in good spirits and we sunk a few beers and sung a few songs before heading back to the fanzone. The centre of Gelsenkirchen didn’t quite have the charm of many German cities and I was later informed it is one of the more ‘rugged’ cities in the country.
As we arrived back at the fanzone there were 1000’s of England fans milling out and making their way to the stadium. Sadly we missed out on one of the most enjoyable aspects of the Fanzones which is the interaction with fans of other teams. UEFA had decided that England would have a separate fanzone well away from the locals and the Serbian fans which certainly took away from the experience. An unfortunate consequence of the news story that some Serbian fans were after some trouble, combined with the history of English fans it was deemed better that we were kept separate.
Home from home
In typical English style, there was nothing quite like a thunderstorm to dampen the mood. It took some resilience, as well as full strength beer, to stick it out as fans cowered in the portaloo’s. Others made use of the tarpaulin around to find shelter from the rain as Denmark drew with Slovenia on the big screen. Thankfully this subsided in time for kick off and with a back drop of sunshine and rainbows, the tournament contenders finally kicked off their campaign.
England were expected to cruise through this game and along with France, were favourites to win the competition. With the best players in Spain, Germany and England in our frontline, expectations were higher than ever and pressure was on Gareth’s men to put in a confident attack minded display and win comfortably.
England got off to the best possible start as the Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham popped up in the right spot to head home Bukayo Saka’s deflected cross and send the England fans crazy. While the fans wanted 3 and 4, this wasn’t quite how it went and as the game progressed into the second half England certainly allowed the Serbs to have plenty of posession, yet never looked like conceding.
Job done
And that’s how it stayed, England held out for a solid enough start. We didn’t light up the world but the job was done, given the nature of the competition, a draw in either of the remaining games would be more than enough to qualify.
Our epic tent set up had attracted the attention of Good Morning Britains news team and they came knocking at 7am for an interview on the breakfast show back home. As we cooked our sausages and brushed our teeth we gave our thoughts to the nation alongside our new pal ‘World Cup Man’. By this point we were well aware of his celebrity status back home with requests from mates to track him down for a selfie. Thankfully I’d already had one. We filled our bellies, said our goodbyes and moved off to the next campsite.
To break up the trip we went to a more official campsite in the countryside where we were treated to more torrential rain and a few hairy moments as the tents leaked in through the night, but that’s all part of the fun right. A morning of sunshine gave us a nice opportunity for a bit of swimming, paddle boarding and jumping off the high board into the lake. We enjoyed a trip into town for a posh meal and a pub to watch the match before finishing the night back under the Gazebo, once again with a fine compliment of Aldi’s finest sausage and beer.
Next stop Frankfurt for a rerun of the last Euro’s Semi Final against Denmark.
On to the next
Again we headed to the city for Match day 2 with no plan of accommodation. This time we weren’t so lucky. A couple of laps of the city centre and a drive deep into a forest delivered nothing. We were soon scrambling around on Booking.com for last minute extortionately priced hotels. Eventually we opted to bite the bullet and stay right in the centre, a decision everyone was happy with after four nights in a tent.
The earlier delay meant we were running late to watch Germany play Hungary in the fanzone which was positioned beautifully along the river Main. As a result the place was full and we were restricted to hearing the passionate anthem from outside as we went in search of an alternative. As is always the way in Germany you are never far from a beer and a TV so despite a slightly obscured view we got to see the game amongst an eclectic mix of fans, one of the real joys of these tournaments.
We drank beers and shared Snuff with the Scots and the Swiss, one of the latter was a friend of Gianni Infantino who I’d always thought to be Italian, we gave him a call but understandably he must have been preoccupied with other things.
Hope for the Scots
The night’s second game saw Scotland snatch a point to the delight of the Tartan Army who had lit up the tournament. Their first away trip for 26 years and by God they were making the most of it. ‘No Scotland, no party’ was repeated regularly and their supporters were receiving widespread acclaim across Germany.
The late deflected goal from their regular hero Scott McTominay meant their dream of qualifying from a group stage for the first time ever was well and truly alive and in their own hands going in to their final game against Hungary.
The night continued but the memories get blurrier. It ended up with a fair few of us dancing well into the night in Club Velvet. Thankfully we left well short of the 10am closing time but a 2 hour search for some late night food ensured we weren’t tucked up in bed until gone 5.
English takeover
The stupidity of that hit home only a few hours later when we were waking up for match day, England vs Denmark. Man I felt rough. 7 days of solid drinking had taken its toll and it was the worst I had felt yet. I laboured down to the main square in search of libation and the vibes there lifted me a little as it was well and truly taken over by England fans.
In typical style the beautiful traditional buildings had been daubed with St George’s Cross’ celebrating various teams from all over the country. Festivities were well under way, balls were being kicked high into the sky along with the customary long build up before jumping into the ancient fountains. All in all, the quintessential English takeover.
Several of the group had tickets for the game so we said our goodbyes and headed for the station with a bag full of cans. Songs were sung and the excitement was building as the train pulled up outside the Waldstadion. The 58,000 seater stadium is currently known as the Deutche Bank Park and home to Bundesliga team Eintracht Frankfurt. A team who delightfully have their own beer which was very welcome on such a warm and muggy day.
The atmosphere was pleasant enough with sporadic singing but not a patch on the shows put on by the Scots and Dutch as they marched towards their games. In fact, the most passionate the English fans got was to express how their local rivals tend to get battered everywhere they go.
Another stadium ticked off
Great to tick off another stadium in Germany and a rare treat to bring our beers into the stands, one of the joys of football in this country. To add to the atmosphere we noticed the roof was closed, the first time I’d ever watched a match in these conditions. An increase in noise for sure but it also amplified the stifling heat for the players.
As we turned to take our seats it was immediately clear we would be sat amongst the Danes, rather than wading into the sea of red we opted to sit on the spacious staircase where we’d spotted a few other English fans, unfortunately they turned out to be two of the more vile you will come across but what can you do.
Anthems were sung passionately from either side and it was time to kick off my 6th tournament, always an absolute honour and a pleasure to be lucky enough to cheer on the boys in person. The game started steadily and it wasn’t long until our record goal scorer and heroic captain Harry Kane had put us in front.
The Danish fans around us fell silent as they may have feared a backlash from England after their underwhelming start. A draw for Denmark in their opener meant a defeat would leave them in a precarious position.
Game on
In textbook Southgate style, England remained cautious and a great strike from Morten Hjulmand from 30 odd yards was enough to beat Pickford and send their fans wild. Denmark had been playing some nice stuff and were well and truly back in the game. To the tune of ‘Yellow Submarine’ they were taunting us with the words ‘England, England, it’s never coming home, I’ts never coming home..’
On this form it was hard to put up much of an argument. The game didn’t really get too much better for England with an inexplicable lack of cohesion. An all-round terrible performance on a poor pitch in uncomfortable conditions, not that that was an excuse as Denmark is hardly known for it’s hot and humid climate.
I have to admit a very disappointing performance from England, one of the most lacklustre I’d seen in recent years. It certainly did nothing to bring me out of my weary hangover. England never looked like winning… nor losing, which sadly says a lot about the quality of the game.
Silver Lining
It did however qualify us for the next round with a game to spare which having been in Brazil 10 years ago was not always a given before our Gareth took over. Something the few ‘fans’ that booed at the end of the game seem to have forgotten.
The much hailed German transport efficiency was having a day off as we waited over an hour for a train back to the centre, this hardly did anything to ease the desolate mood. Similar issues had also been felt after the game in Gelsenkirchen, but hard to complain too much given free match day travel and reduced costs for national trains. Sadly, the delay did however mean we missed the Spain vs Italy game that evening in which the Spaniards built on their thrashing of Croatia and were quietly becoming the new tournament favourites.
Underwhelming evening
As we finally returned to the city, the mood was sombre. Understandable to an extent as people have spent huge sums of money to come and support their team and wanted to see Foden, Bellingham and Kane set the world alight. Sadly football isn’t always this simple and England flattered to deceive. But we just have to get better at drawing a line under it and focusing on the next game rather than crucifying a manager who has got us to a Semi Final and Final in his tenure. In Gareth we trust.
After last night’s party and an enduring day there was time for one last symbolic beer and an early night to end the first leg of the trip.
After 8 days of mistreatment of the body is was time for some rest. As the lads started the epic drive home, I planned a tranquil few days to reset the body somewhere between Frankfurt and the destination of our next game against Slovenia in Cologne. On to the next one.