England fan gets winners tattoo early

An England supporter is so confident of his team’s success, he had ‘England Euro 2024 Winners’ tattooed on his leg ahead of the final.

The artist who carried out Dan Thomas’ new tattoo said he had to triple-check before putting the needle to skin.

Mr Thomas, 29, from Swindon, said: “I’m pretty confident. I think it will happen. I wouldn’t have got it done if I didn’t think it would happen.”

His tattooist has told him “as a punishment if they do lose then he is not going to cover it up for at least a year”.

The data consultant is predicting England will win 2-1 when they face Spain later. He was so convinced about the result, he decided to live stream the tattoo process on TikTok.

More than 42,000 people watched him go under the needle at Reign Barbers and Tattoos parlour in Swindon on Thursday. The process took two and a half hours.

He said: “I thought [England] would get far, so it’s come as no shock.

“They’re going to win so you may as well get it before the queues start on Monday.”

Mr Thomas had considered getting one in 2021 when England faced Italy in the Euro 2020 final, but this time it was “a spur of the moment, last-minute thing”.

The tattoo parlour owner, Jack Wilkinson, admitted he did not think Mr Thomas would go through with it “until the needle actually touched skin”.

Mr Wilkinson, who is also Mr Thomas’ friend, thought it was a joke at first.

He said: “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.”

Tattoo artist Tinashe Chikerema said he “couldn’t believe” Mr Thomas wanted the tattoo and triple-checked before starting.

“Fair play to him for being so confident in the team,” he added.