Doing the Macarena outside a sun-kissed Olympiastadion. Life probably peaked at that moment for the England fans who joined Spanish supporters performing the iconic dance ahead of the Euro 2024 final. Three hours later, broken-hearted, they’d trudge back down that same street, into the awaiting S-Bahns and off into the night.
It was a tournament of wild mood swings for the Three Lions support, experiencing just about every emotion along the way: frustration, disappointment, cup-launching rage, giddy disbelief, ecstasy and perhaps even an element of shame towards the end, given the abuse hurled at manager Gareth Southgate early in the competition. FFT got to experience much of that first-hand, from the Denmark draw in Frankfurt that saw discontent swell, to the raucous comeback win over the Netherlands in Dortmund, when it was all Sweet Carolines and Southgate You’re the Ones . The latter provided as spine-tingling an atmosphere as this writer has ever seen at an England match – Ollie Watkins’ winner preceding a solid hour of post-match cuddles and karaoke.
The final was its own microcosm of all of that: nerves, fear, hope, expectation, belief and, ultimately, that old familiar feeling. That is, of course, why football fans do it, and the commitment shown to following national teams around for a whole summer genuinely leaves FFT astounded at times. Throughout the month, we heard it all.
4am ferries from Dover, sleeping in vans, party buses, bagpipes for hand luggage, p.
