England are back in the country where the WAG circus overwhelmed them. But it's a history of heart-break they must overcome to win this wide-open Euros, writes OLIVER HOLT For Southgate, this is about confronting England's history and conquering it By Oliver Holt Published: 12:00 EDT, 14 June 2024 | Updated: 14:59 EDT, 14 June 2024 e-mail 2 View comments In the small courtyard of the medieval castle that England players walk through each afternoon on their way to speak to the media, the local tourist board has put up a poster. It depicts a peaceful scene of some half-timbered houses, next to a river.
‘The Heart of Germany,’ the words on the poster say. ‘Discover Thuringia, where history is ever-present.’ Down the road in Erfurt, the regional capital, one of the landmark events from the past is the Erfurter Latrinensturz of 1184, a salutary and rather gruesome tale of pride coming before a fall.
Henry VI, King of Germany had convened an assembly of noblemen in the upper storey of a church. When the floor collapsed under their weight, they fell through it into the giant latrine below. More than 60 people drowned in excrement.
Think of it as a metaphor for what happens to national football teams when things go wrong at major tournaments if you wish but whether it goes badly for England in the next few weeks or not, it is not going to go as badly as that. England have to overcome a history of heart-break to triumph at the Euros in Germany Wayne Rooney was sent off in the .
