Andy Mitten is taking the alternative route around France for Euro 2016. While most journalists will be packing press boxes, Andy will follow the fans and the buzz to bring you an alternative take on the tournament. Here is Day 11 from St-Etienne.
They were singing it in the rain of Lyon’s old town on Sunday, just before a group of Lyon ultras attacked them before being chased off, never to return. They were singing it as the two double decker trains each hour rolled into the St-Etienne sunshine from Lyon on Monday morning.
“Don’t take me home, please don’t take me,” sang the 25,000 England fans as part of another vast army who descended on the French city. “I’m tired and I don’t wanna go to work, I want to stay here ...”
The tune is from Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart". West Ham fans popularised it this season with a song about their best player, Dimitri Payet.
“We’ve got Payet, Dimitri Payet! I just don’t think you understand. He’s Super Slav’s man; he’s better than Zidane. We’ve got Dimtri Payet!”
Arsenal fans and others copied and adapted it, England fans too. Football fans do that until everyone gets sick of the repetition. Ditto "Will Grigg's on Fire".
More Andy Mitten
• Day 10: A sea of red and black in Lyon as Albania fans witness history
• Day 9: St-Etienne is steeped in rich football history, just ask the English
• Day 8: Inside the Croatia storm with a 'sports terrorists' minority
The England fans came in peace and were met with smiles from local police, rail officials, volunteers and business owners. The friendly Slovaks added to the mood, the sunshine amid days of cloud and rain helped too.
In St-Etienne’s biggest square, the English hung their flags. Giant George Crosses, most bearing the names of provincial towns and their clubs. Ipswich, Barnsley, Plymouth. “Club and country” they declared proudly among messages like “God Save the Queen” and “Rule, Britannia”.
A stretch limousine was painted with a large George Cross and signed by dozens of English celebrities, from reality television contestants to the actor Jude Law and Nigella Lawson, a chef who professed to have no interest in football but found fascination in young men in their vivid football strips with pumped up egos charging around a field shouting.
Undercover officials from England and France watched the ticket touts and apprehended several.
A French gendarme smiled as he was asked to exchange his hat for a mulleted wig, the type once worn in real life by Chris Waddle, Gerry Francis and Glenn Hoddle. Twenty men appeared in similar wigs. The policeman smiled and agreed.
Everything was bright in St-Etienne and without a mob of 150 Russian fighting machines to alter the mood, it stayed that way. For every man who wanted to tell the good people that he had no intention of surrendering to the Irish Republican Army, there were ten who were more relaxed. England’s following has changed. It’s more middle class than it was, more suburban and less aggressive – a microcosm for English life.
England needed a win. They were feeling confident in the team hotel, a 20-minute drive up the Loire valley north of St-Etienne, where the players appreciated a free morning hour to get out of accommodation lacking the luxury of their Chantilly base.
The England sections on all four sides of the ground began to fill two hours before kick-off. Security was even tighter than it has been, with fans subject to even more searches as queues developed. Men who’d taken their shirts off as the temperature nudged above 20C (68F) – a temperature which constitutes high summer in England – were told to put them back on.
England fans didn’t boo the Slovak anthem as they had the Russian. They had songs urging Scotland’s manager Gordon Strachan to cheer up as his side are not in France. Songs about Jamie Vardy having a party and a beautifully crisp “England!” to a crescendo of claps.
This writer was in a €55 (Dh300) category four seat with England diehards on the steep second tier behind the goal. The view was fine, the ticket price far better value than the €145 category ones which make up the majority of seats at Euro 2016. Rarely for this tournament, tickets were going for above face value.
England, wearing red, made six changes from the Wales victory. Jack Wilshere, beloved by England fans, benefited from much encouragement and cries of “Come on Jack!” Failing to take his chance, he was, like many of his teammates, average.
The Torquay United fan in the adjacent seat grew frustrated. Like many England fans in a support where the provincial outnumbers the metropolitan, he supports a smaller club.
“There are sometimes only 20 of us who travel away with Torquay,” he explained. “I once travelled 500 miles to see us at Hull in a night game. We were losing 1-0 and I left early. I put the local radio on in the car. Torquay had only won 2-1 with two late goals hadn’t they?”
There would be no goals in St-Etienne, let alone late ones. Wayne Rooney, England’s best player in the previous game against Wales, was brought off the bench to a rapturous reception. Before England’s first game in Marseille, there were doubts that he was worth his place in the team.
Rooney could not change the game against a team content to defend. It was like he was playing for Louis van Gaal's Manchester United, with England possession heavy but lacking penetration.
“We wanna go up north,” sang an England fan who hoped for a win and therefore a Saturday game in Paris rather than a Monday night fixture in Nice against the Group F runners-up. The news that Wales were beating Russia 3-0 added to the angst. Men scanned their phones for further updates. The mobile reception inside French stadia is excellent.
England would finish second, their last 16 opponents to be confirmed.
England fans made their way back to St-Etienne’s main train station via packed trams or a 40-minute walk. Hotels in the city which attracts few tourists were rare, even the Air BnB private rooms which many England fans are using were at a premium. Nearby Lyon had more choice, though hotel prices were four times the usual.
Police made sure the England fans had purchased the €11.50 tickets back to Lyon.
“You,” said an England fan to a line of police outside the stations, “Better than police in Marseille.”
Those officers who understood smiled. As the strong accents from fans drawn around England faded – the chirpy Cockney opposite pronounced “house” as “aarz” while the Yorkshireman to the left said “owse” – fans fell asleep on the hour journey back. They were awoken when the train announcer joked: “Welcome to Lion” as the first of the seven specially organised trains arrived at Lyon Part Dieu at 1am.
“Is Lion near Lyon?” asked the east Londoner.
Soldiers with guns were waiting to greet them and they spilled off the train and headed in all directions towards their beds, dark figures disappearing into the warm Lyon night.
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