Cheeky Scotland fan who took son out of faculty to Germany provides replace

The Scotland fan who took his son out of school for ‘an educational trip through Germany‘ has given an update on their progress with a tour of Frankfurt.

Iain Meiklejohn hit the headlines after sending a cheeky email to Forresters High School in Edinburgh explaining why he was taking 12-year-old Aleks abroad.

And ahead of Scotland’s first match at Euro 2024 tonight against Germany, Mr Meiklejohn took to social media to reveal what they had been up to so far.

After flying out yesterday, Mr Meiklejohn said he and Aleks had gone on a tour of Frankfurt – visiting the Main Tower, looking at the skyline and playing ‘football pool’.

He wrote: ‘Today’s educational trip told us the following… – The Main Tower is 240m tall. – Frankfurt is the only German city with a ‘skyline’. – Aleks needs to practice ‘football pool’. – His measurements for finding the top corner are spot on!’

It comes after he promised Aleks would produce a report in ‘full detail’ on what he called ‘the extreme emotional highs and lows that only a Scotland fan goes through’.

Mr Meiklejohn is one of the parents risking fines for taking their children out of school to watch the tournament in Germany.

While parents in Scotland do not face £60 fines for unauthorised non-attendance like in England, they can be handed ‘attendance orders’, ordering them to explain a child’s absence. Parents who do not provide a reasonable excuse could then be fined up to £1,000.

Mr Meiklejohn and his son have previously attended the World Cups in Brazil in 2014 and in Russia in 2018 – but missed out on getting into the Rio showpiece final between Germany and Argentina after falling foul of ticket touts.

In the email sent to his son’s school earlier this week, Mr Meiklejohn wrote: ‘Hi! I am just writing to inform you that Aleks Meiklejohn will not be attending school from Thursday, June 13th until whenever Scotland are eliminated from Euro 2024.

‘We will be going on an educational trip through Germany visiting several cities where we will study the extreme emotional highs and lows that only a Scotland fan goes through.

‘I will ensure Aleks completes a report on his return in full detail. M’on Scotland!’

After he posted a screenshot of the message on X, Mr Meiklejohn received responses including ‘Top work’ and ‘Have a great time learning’.

Another user posted: ‘What an absolute legend! Funniest thing I’ve seen today.’

He was also told: ‘Good luck to you both, mate! These memories you’re about to make with him will last a lifetime time. You can learn long division any old time.’

And a fellow sympathiser said: ‘As a teacher, these are the kind of absences I’d be perfectly OK with.’

But there was also mockery over Scotland’s prospect as the country aims to reach the knock-out stages of a major international tournament for the very first time.

One poster commented: ‘I doubt you’ll be in the competition long enough for them to notice he’s missing.’

Other parents have also decided to take their children out of school for the tournament.

Keith Work, 45, and his wife Julie were posing for photos in Munich earlier this week with their nine-year-old son, Adam – who was delighted to be able to miss the last few days of term.

Mr Work told the Daily Record : ‘It just feels amazing to be here. We don’t know if we’ll be able to have another trip like this for a long time so we decided we had to be here to experience the atmosphere.’

There is no suggestion Adam’s absence was unauthorised.

When calling Forresters High School, MailOnline was told: ‘Any unauthorised absence will be dealt with in accordance with the local authority’s policy.’

Edinburgh City Council has been approached for comment.

Aleks previously won tickets for the 2018 World Cup final in Russian capital Moscow – France’s 4-2 victory over Croatia – and was celebrated in a social media post by the sport’s world governing body Fifa.

The boy had been mocked online after being seen crying when Poland – the native land of his mother Iwona – were beaten 3-0 by Colombia in the opening round.

After scooping the tickets four years after missing the 2014 final, Mr Meiklejohn said at the time: ‘The whole thing has just flipped 100%. It’s just amazing, it’s brilliant.’

Talking about Poland’s elimination by Colombia, he said: ‘Aleks got a wee bit upset as you would when your team gets put out of the World Cup.

‘All the Colombian fans started to gather round us, started chanting ‘Polska, Polska’, giving us hats, scarves, patting us on our backs, patting us on our heads.

‘Iwona, my wife, took a quick 15-second video of this happening, uploaded it to Twitter later that night and the whole thing exploded.

‘It went viral and we have had non-stop communication from all over the world for the last six or seven days. It’s been unreal.’

It comes as millions of Scots are set to will the national men’s football team on to victory as they take on Germany in the highly anticipated opening match of Euro 2024 tonight.

The match in Munich is the first of 51 to be played over the next month to decide the next European champions, with the final taking place at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on July 14.

Tens of thousands of members of the Tartan Army have made the trip to Germany to cheer on their heroes, and at home thousands more are expected to pack out venues specially set up in cities to screen the game.

Germany are third favourite to win the tournament behind France and England and while the odds appear to be stacked heavily against Scotland beating them, many supporters are hoping their side can take something from Friday night’s game.

Scotland have never beaten Germany in a competitive fixture and have won only one of their last nine matches – a 2-0 friendly win over minnows Gibraltar at the start of the month.