Thomas Tuchel unites Three Lions’ team squad to end 60 years of hurt with matching ink memorial plan – including players, backroom staff, FA and officials at US training camp
Thomas Tuchel has united his England team to end 60 years of hurt with the promise of a special World Cup winning tattoo.
Should the Three Lions lift the trophy for the first time since 1966 the manager has pledged everyone involved will be entitled to get one of the exclusive inks.
It will stretch way beyond the players.
England’s coaches, backroom staff and Football Association execs are in a line for a tatt.
Even the FIFA World Cup official in charge of the squad’s Kansas City training HQ has signed up for the celebration stamp.
Insiders reckon Tuchel’s ‘four-four-tattoo’ plan has bonded the Three Lions’ campaign like nothing before.
It was revealed by Alan Dietrich, chief operating officer of Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City where England will be based during the tournament starting next month.
Alan, who is the FIFA World Cup consultant in charge of looking after the Three Lions, said Tuchel got him and Sporting Kansas City’s chief executive officer Jake Reid on board during a ‘very serious and competitive’ game of padel on a reccying trip last year.
“Coach Tuchel is very good and very competitive,” he said.
“It wasn’t a casual game – you could just tell his intensity.
“That’s when coach Thomas said to us that they will get tattoos ‘when’ they win the tournament.
“And then he turned to us and he said: ‘You’re our partners now, so will you get tattoos too?’
“And Jake and I, while we’re tattoo-less at the moment, immediately said, ‘Yes.’
“My kids can’t believe it. “The design will be the trophy with England elements added.”
Gesturing to his upper arm, currently ink-free Alan, 64, said: “I’ll have it there. I think it will age well.”
Tuchel’s tactic may not be as off-field as it seems.
While footballers frequently get matching tatts with club team mates to mark major trophy wins or special bonds no international squad has been known to do it.
During the 2023 Women’s World Cup close friends and Lioness teammates Millie Bright and Rachel Daly got matching ‘½’ fractions tattooed on their hands signifying they ‘not complete’ without each other.
But this is the first time widespread memorial tatts have been mooted.
It is part of Tuchel’s plan to give England a club-style bond.
Though the 52-year-old German has won the highest honours in club football – the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup with Chelsea – it is the first time he has managed an international team.
A source said: “Thomas appreciates the importance of a team bond.
“It is one of the biggest differences between managing a club and an international squad where all the players have alliances to other teams.
“He wants to find a way of uniting everyone to the cause – from the kit man to the bellhop at the team hotel. He wants them all to be in it to win it.”
Though England is not scheduled to play a match in Kansas Tuchel picked it as the team’s World Cup base because of its central location, top notch sporting facilities and reputation as one of America’s safest cities.
The training pitches they will use at Swope Park – once home to the four-time NFL Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs – are constructed from the same Bermuda grass all teams will play on during the World Cup.
The park boasts its own golf course so the players can relax – and a zoo.
The FA is building its own state-of-the-art gym in a marquee within the complex.
England will stay at the £400-a-night, 54-room The Inn at Meadowbrook for the tournament – not far from the home pop superstar Taylor Swift shares with NFL star hubby-to-be Travis Kelce and Ted Lasso actor Jason Sudeikis’s old high school.
Some of the hotel staff will be reportedly furloughed for a month while the FA brings its own chefs and other specialists.
The gym will be extended to house Vitaeris 320 hyperbaric chambers players will use to aid recovery between matches.
The FA has requested access to all the best local golf courses.
England will make daily treks between two states – their hotel is in Kansas while the training ground is in neighbouring Missouri.
Licensing laws have been extended in both states for the tournament with boozing only banned between 5am and 6am.
“If England win I guess the champagne will be flowing for at least 23 hours,” the source added.
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