You don’t need to bother watching the game tonight… this England fan already knows what’s going to happen (apparently).
Dan Thomas has effectively already popped the bubbly and got the open top bus at the ready by tattooing the words ‘England Euro 2024 winners’ onto his leg.
Gareth Southgate’s side don’t take on Spain in the final in Berlin until later tonight – but as far as the 29-year-old from Swindon, Wiltshire, is concerned, it’s already coming home.
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He’s so confident the Three Lions will be crowned as champions of the tournament that he’s etched the trophy onto his body before the game has even started.
Dan, who works as a data consultant, said he decided to get the tattoo ‘before the queues start on Monday’ if England are victorious.
‘I’m pretty confident,’ he said. ‘I think it will happen. I wouldn’t have got it done if I didn’t think it would happen.
‘I think it will be close and I think it will be 1-1, but go to extra time. I think we’ll win 2-1 in extra time.’
However, the artists at Reign Barbers and Tattoo parlour in Swindon where Dan had the work done have warned him if England lose, they will punish him by not covering it up for ‘at least a year’.
Tattoo parlour owner Jack Wilkinson, who is friends with Dan, said he didn’t believe he would go ahead with it ‘until the needle actually touched the skin’.
‘I thought it was a joke to start with,’ Jack said. ‘But he said he was full of confidence and wanted to be the first one to get it done before everyone else gets it done after they win.
‘It still feels surreal that he actually got it done. It sums up Dan as a person. He’s quite eccentric and Mr Positive.
’I’m not as confident as Dan. I’ve got a lot of tattoos, but I wouldn’t go that far.’
Tinashe Chikereman, the artist who tattooed the UEFA European Championship trophy onto Dan the day after England beat the Netherlands in the semi-final, said he checked three times if he definitely wanted it.
He said: ‘I couldn’t believe he actually wanted the tattoo, but I triple-checked with him. Fair play to him for being so confident in the team.’
This isn’t the first time Dan considered getting a similar tattoo – he was also tempted to get one in 2021 before England lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.
‘I went into the studio and just said it would be great to have the tattoo,’ he said.
‘I was joking, but then I thought, “actually, no, I’m really confident, I’m going to get it done”. So it was a spur of the moment, last minute thing.’
Dan live streamed his tattoo being done on TikTok and 42,000 people tuned in to watch.
He added: ‘They’re going to win so you may as well get it before the queues start on Monday.’
We will find out sometime between 10 and 11pm whether or not Dan’s tattoo was the kiss of death or bang on the money.
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