Millions of football fans were left on the edge of their seats last night as Jude Bellingham led yet another great escape for England.
Thousands of pints of beer were sent flying into the air across the nation as the Three Lion’s latest hero acrobatically levelled the scoreline when they were seconds from crashing out of the tournament. Long-suffering England followers, including tennis ace Emma Raducanu who donned a national team shirt at Wimbledon, had gathered in their droves throughout the day to pack pubs and gardens across the country.
Supporters were in high hopes in fan zones in places like Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, London, Manchester and Brighton. The beaches and bars in Magaluf, Spain, were also heaving as were the fields of Glastonbury ahead of the match. One footy fan even brought a full screen TV to the Somerset music festival and plugged it in, in front of their town allowing hundreds of other festival goers to watch.
Relishing the win in Dougie's Tavern in Hebburn (PA)But in truth the fans did not have much to shout about as England looked like they were labouring to an abject 1v0 defeat against the plucky Slovakians until Bellingham’s stunning bicycle kick saved the day. Up and down England fans roared a gigantic sigh of relief and leapt into each other’s arms with the ecstatic fans in BoxPark Wembley raising the roof at Bellingham’s vital goal. More delight was to come less than five minutes later when the skipper Harry Kane headed home the unlikely winner in the first half of extra time leading to more exultant scenes.
Lapping it up at Luna Springs in Birmingham (Anita Maric / SWNS)At the end of extra time the nation breathed a collective sigh of relief and the loyal fans, who have endured long periods watching the team’s dreadful displays so far this summer, tried their best to remain positive. Fans in Birmingham were particularly delighted. Patrick Stepkowski, 24, an engineer, from Birmingham, said: “It was not a good game but we got the result we deserved. We need to move on to the next one. With a bit of confidence, we can go all the way to the final.” Richard Mallen, 35, a compliance manager, said: “I can’t wait for the quarter-finals.”
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Scenes at BOXPark Wembley in London (PA)Chris Brown, 38, a social media manager, said: “Not a brilliant performance from the boys but we need a few changes in the next game. It is one of those where it should have been a comfortable win but we had nerves - I knew we could pull through.” In Manchester Alex Hemmings, 51, said: “At one point I thought it’s just never coming home is it? Lets be honest, that was massively flukey. We’ve stunk this tournament out. You can blame the manager all you want but he can’t physically make the players play better on the pitch. Truth is this team the English VAR officials have been the worst thing about the whole tournament, still a win's a win eh?” In Newcastle Tony Carter, 36, a labourer from South Shields was more upbeat. He said: “You can only beat what’s put in front of you now let's make Swiss cheese out of the next lot, c’mon England!”
Nerves were high at Hastings Pier (PA)Many fans watched the game at one of the 4TheFans fans parks dotted across the country Brighton, Bristol, Hastings, and London. One fan Lydia, 24, said: “I mean, a lot of it I was so stressed out but they pulled it out of the bag at the end of it. So proud of England.” Lee, 22, said: “I’m over the moon. Obviously it was ropey at the start but we got there in the end. Jude Bellingham, absolutely incredible. The road to the final we should have that unlocked now but we’ll see. I hope so.” The fans stayed behind after the game to sing along with the classics ‘Football’s Coming Home’, ’Sweet Caroline’, and ‘Vindaloo’.
Trepidation when England went 1-0 down (NB PRESS LTD)A 4TheFans spokesperson said: “We’ve definitely seen excitement building as England progressed to the knockouts and have opened a new fan park in Birmingham to cope with demand. This is alongside current 4TheFans fan parks in Brighton, Bristol, Hastings, and London (Dalston and Brixton). If England get through against Slovakia we’ll be looking at opening more.“
“Despite a couple of lacklustre performances on the pitch the fans are still enjoying themselves. We’ve had a great atmosphere at our fan parks with plenty of singing and huge celebrations when goals have gone in. Across all the 4TheFans locations so far we estimate the fans have downed at least 75,000 pints.“
Spending Report by VoucherCodes.co.uk estimated a whopping TV audience of 21m and England’s progress in the tournament has also been a boon for the economy with them predicting 17.2m fans will tune in at home, spending £293.5m on retail goods. Hospitality venues were also expected to earn £93.4m. Around 7.3m drinks are believed to have been gulped down during the game, including those bought by fans watching at home.
Jubilation at Millennium Square in Leeds (PA)Pubs were the big winners getting a major boost with the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) estimating that an extra 1.5 million fans flocked to their local to watch the match generating a boost in beer sales of £29m - or approximately 6 million extra pints. Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the BBPA said: “There is no better place to watch the game than in your local pub. These occasions are always a busy time for pubs and today is set to be even more so as people enjoy a refreshing pint while cheering on England. This is great news for the beer and pub sector and I urge football fans to support their local - and their team.”
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