England followers are studying German to assist cheer on Thomas Tuchel in his native tongue
A poll has shown England football fans are willing to do whatever it takes to support football coming home, including learning a new language to support new England manager
Three Lions fans are learning German so they can cheer on the new England boss in his native tongue.
Thomas Tuchel, 51 – born in Krumbach, Bavaria – took charge for the first time against Albania at Wembley on Friday, and will face Latvia on Sunday. In a gesture of support, fans are welcoming England’s third foreign boss after Sven and Fabio with a few chants in German.
They include ‘Fußball kommt nach Hause’ – which means ‘Football’s coming home’, and “So sehen Sieger aus, shalalalala” – which means ‘That’s what champions look like’. Others include ‘Einer geht noch, einer geht noch rein’, which roughly translated means ‘We can score another one’, and Das war kein Abseits!, which means ‘That wasn’t offside!’.
Another beauty, usually sung when all is lost, is ‘Das ist Fußball’, meaning simply ‘That is football’. A poll of 1,000 England fans by Coral found that 26% confessed to sprucing up on their knowledge of the German lingo to give Tuchel a ‘warm welcome’ as he takes the helm.
Around 9% of Brits can speak ‘enough German’ to ‘get by’, but most know only a few simple words or phrases like ‘Nein’, which means ‘No’, and ‘Achtung’, meaning ‘Danger’.
Others include ‘guten morgen’, which means ‘good morning’, and ‘schadenfreude’, which doesn’t have an equivalent in English, but is well known to mean to ‘take pleasure in someone else’s misfortune’. ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ means ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Ich hätte gern ein Lagerbier, bitte’ is translated as ‘I would like a lager, please’.
England fan Oscar Taylor, 55, of Watford, Herts, said he and his son, Craig, 28, started brushing up on their German ever since Tuchel was announced as the new boss in October last year.
The electrical engineer said: “We both thought it was going to Eddie Howe, but secretly hoped it was going to be Jurgen Klopp or Pep. But Thomas is a great choice and we’re right behind him.
“We don’t know much German, but we’re learning and we’ve got ‘Fußball kommt nach Hause’ down to a tee.”
A spokesman for Coral said: “Our poll of 1,000 England fans found that just over a quarter are learning German words and phrases to roar on the Three Lions.”
Coral also found that 32% of those polled reckoned England would win the World Cup next year, although 62% said they wished the manager was English.
The poll also put Sir Bobby Robson as the greatest ever England manager, with 17%, ahead of Gareth Southgate at 13%, and World Cup winner Sir Alf Ramsey with 12%.
David Stevens, of Coral, said: “Thomas Tuchel’s appointment may not have gone down so well with the 62% of fans we surveyed who think the England manager should be English, but that could all be forgotten if his side deliver a few good performances in front of the Wembley faithful.
“Who knows, if the Three Lions end sixty years of hurt at next summer’s World Cup, he could even have the whole country chanting ‘Fußball kommt nach Hause!’”
England are joint second favourites to win the World Cup alongside France, with both at 13-2 , just behind Spain at 11-2, with Brazil at 7-1 and Germany at 9-1.
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