Thousands of England fans have flocked to pubs in Gelsenkirchen as they gear up for the Three Lions opening match of Euro 2024 tomorrow night.
A record 350,000 supporters are expected to travel to Germany to cheer on Gareth Southgate, Harry Kane and the boys – with 40,000 set to make the trip in time for kick-off on Sunday night.
Travelling fans have been arriving in their droves by plane, bus and ferry and packed out pubs in the western city’s old town, waving St George’s flags and chanting ‘please don’t take me home’.
The same scenes were replicated in Dusseldorf, where some poked fun at Scotland’s 5-1 drubbing in their opener against the hosts Germany.
Builder Tom Parkinson, 40, who made the trip from London, told The Sun: ‘I just wanted to escape the weather and the election back home — it’s so dreary I wanted to get away.’
Southgate has urged England fans to celebrate football and enjoy their time at the tournament amid security fears surrounding their Group C opener against Serbia.
Police in Germany have described the game as ‘high-risk’, with reports earlier in the week of Serbian ultras making their way to the region.
With England fans travelling en masse for the first time since 2016, all eyes will be on behaviour ahead of the game as much as the performance of the players on the pitch at the Veltins Arena.
Asked on the eve of the contest if he had a message for supporters, England boss Southgate replied: ‘I expect everybody to enjoy the football.
‘I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a lot of tournaments and travelled to others that I wasn’t been directly involved.
‘They are great carnivals of football, an opportunity to see another part of the world, meet people from other parts of the world, have a brilliant time.
‘So everybody I’m sure is coming to do exactly that.
‘The whole of Europe can come together, celebrate together the brilliant game we’re involved in, support and get behind their team but of course meet other people and have a fantastic month together.’
In Gelsenkirchen, fans were filmed singing Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline – the soundtrack to England’s run to the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley.
But in unsavoury scenes elsewhere, others were filmed chanting ‘10 German bombers’.
Chief of police Peter Both said his officers are powerless to stop it, but urged any fans inclined to do so not to be a ‘d**k’.
Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: ‘That’s what I would say to them: Don’t be a d***. If they sing a song like this, I can’t change it.
‘It’s not punishable in Germany. I hope that all the other peaceful and law-abiding fans say to them: “Stop it.”
‘I know, and all people in Germany know, there is a long-lasting sporting rivalry between England and Germany. But it’s important for me to say it’s only a sporting one.
‘Our countries have been, and remain, allies for over seven decades.’
Fans watching from home have also been stocking up on the beers.
Tesco said it expected to sell 33 million packs of beer and cider over the coming month but is also predicting it will sell 5.5 million bottles and cans of ‘no’ and ‘low’ alcohol options – a record for a major football tournament.
Asda said it expects to sell 14 million units of Budweiser over the coming four weeks and more than 25,000 large-screen, ultra-high-definition TVs, with searches for ‘England’ up 55% week-on-week, ‘Euros’ up 48% and ‘Football’ up 77%.
M&S said customers were currently buying five times as much Belgian lager as British lager, while sales of dips and ‘picky bits’ were up 15% ahead of the first matches.
