Danny Dyer has insisted that life is far from glamorous for families of England players at major tournaments.
Dyer recently returned to the UK after attending Sunday’s Euro 2024 final in Berlin where he was supporting son-in-law Jarrod Bowen.
Bowen was an unused substitute in the 2-1 defeat against Spain, but unlike a host of other stars, the West Ham forward was handed minutes during the tournament.
Dyer admits being overwhelmed with emotion as Bowen and teammates bid for glory in Berlin and revealed the torment of watching Spain celebrate their fourth European Championship win at England’s expense.
In a talkSPORT exclusive, the former EastEnders actor provided a fascinating insight into Bowen and daughter Dani’s blossoming relationship, the mood of the players after the final, friction among family members and his take on the Fodens!
I love Jarrod
“It’s a weird one when you’ve got daughters because they do bring home fellas that are no good,” Dyer said on the Breakfast Show.
“The thing about Jarrod is that he’s such a lovely geezer. He’s humble, quite a shy kid and loves my daughter and worships the ground she walks on.
“That means the world to me and the bonus is he got the winning goal in Prague [Europa Conference League final in 2013], so I feel sorry for my other daughter who’s 17. She can never bring a boy home that can ever match what this boy has done!
“It’s a beautiful thing, I’m so happy for the pair of them, they’re so bang in love.
“She hasn’t seen him,” Dyer added. “He’s been away for six weeks. It’s been a very intense camp. She’s been going back and forth, every time she goes we’ve got the chavs unfortunately for us!”
Friction
“We went to the final all of us and it was very emotional, he said. “It’s mad watching it with families, it’s very intense following the team around for six weeks.
“It’s not a glamorous lifestyle. They’re sitting on coaches for three hours and it hasn’t been the most exciting football either.
“Some of the families are there and some of their sons are not getting enough game time so there’s a little bit of friction there.
“Gareth Southgate did seem to stay with the same team so some people didn’t get any minutes. At least J [Bowen] got some earlier minutes.
“It’s very frustrating to sit on the bench and you can’t get any minutes.
“There’s nothing you can do about it so you take it on the chin, you learn from it. Hopefully whoever comes in [next manager] fancies Jarrod again and he gets to go again at the World Cup.”
Fascinating Fodens
“I was very honoured to be hanging out with all the players’ parents brothers and sisters,” said Dyer.
“The Fodens are fascinating. There’s 16 of the Fodens running around, all diddy people, lovely people.
“I tell you what else I loved – very, very working class all of them.
“So as much as football isn’t a working class sport any more because it costs a bomb to go, the players and their roots, they’re all working class people.”
Final heartache
“After the game you wait for the players to come and see you. Usually if we lose a game, I’m out the door.
“We had to sit and watch the Spanish celebrate for an hour-and-a-half, so that hurt.
“Then the players came and they were all a bit down and I think everyone was in shock.
“I think we all really did believe this time. I’m so grateful that the boys scored that goal and we had the change to jump around.
“Every boozer, we had the opportunity to jump around cuddle each other an go crackers because it was underwhelming the whole game and then of course they done us in the last minute.
“They only just nicked it off us but what a side Spain are.”
News Summary:
- Long coach journeys and friction – Danny Dyer opens up on the reality for England players families at tournaments
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.