The entire country will be on tenterhooks on Sunday to see if the Three Lions can fight their way to victory in the men’s Euros final. But one small area south of Manchester will be rooting for its very own trio, some of England’s brightest young stars: Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Kobbie Mainoo, who all grew up here within a few miles of each other.
Their home towns form a triangle: Palmer, 22, is from Wythenshawe in Manchester and the other two come from Stockport; Mainoo, 19, from the quiet suburb of Cheadle Hulme, and Foden, 24, from Edgeley.
Here bars, coffee shops and homes are decked out in the red and white of the England flag, as Mancunians and Stopfordians nervously await the big game. And for those who know the three, the excitement is even higher and nerves are even more frayed. But everyone, football fan or not, is already immensely proud of their local talent.
Joe Makin is in his 30th season coaching the Reddish Vulcans, where Foden played before he moved to Manchester City. “It wasn’t just a normal little boy playing football, you had a feeling something special was happening there when you were watching him,” he said. “His balance, and the ability to turn and leave other children in his wake at seven years of age, it was just something different.”
On the street where Foden grew up, just a stone’s throw from Stockport County’s ground, Edgeley Park, many of the houses are decked out with England flags. His grandmother still lives nearby and he is regularly spotted in the street – and always happy to pose for a selfie with young fans.
“He was down here in a sports car last week and everybody came out with their arms around him,” said Graham Woodfinden, 69, who owns Scooter Crazy, a shop on the street.
Woodfinden’s own scooter is decked out with a Three Lions decal, an England flag flying from the back. He is “very proud” of Stockport’s young footballers and their contribution to England’s success so far, and he hopes to see all three local players in the starting lineup for Sunday’s final.
Heath Fone, 55, also knows the young England star: Foden’s auntie used to run the local pub where he drinks, the Plough. “It’s just amazing, absolutely amazing,” he said. “Credit to the lad, of course we’re proud of them all.”
Just over five miles away, on the Wythenshawe road where Palmer grew up, there is a similar local swell of support. Thomas Gregory, 28, leaned out of his car window to ask: “Are you here about Cole Palmer?”
“What a brilliant pass!” he said, going on to enthuse about Palmer’s assist for the goal that put England through to Sunday’s final. “It’s absolutely brilliant for Wythenshawe,” he said, adding that Palmer – who played for Manchester City before recently moving to Chelsea – used to play football in Hollyhedge Park at the end of his street.
Not far away, the Black Boy pub is decked out in reams of bunting, hundreds of triangular England flags fluttering in the wind. Palmer’s dad played for the pub team. Palmer pops in on occasion, although he only ever has a Coke. Barry Vesey, 64, sipping a pint at the bar, pulls out his phone to show off a picture of him with Palmer, the latter’s winner’s medals hanging around Vesey’s neck.
After Manchester City’s treble win in the 2022-23 season, Palmer brought them in so the local children could try them on and pose for photographs. “He’s just a local kid,” he said. “He’s just a belting lad.”
“He’s a lovely lad, he’d do anything for the kids,” said another patron, Gary Sefton, 63, a retired engineer. “He’s got a lot of respect in here.”
Steve Vare, 51, coached Mainoo when he joined Cheadle and Gatley football club as a young child. “He came when aged five and literally within the space of a couple of weeks we were thinking ‘wow, what a player this kid is”, he said.
Mainoo had to be moved up to play with older children as the drills for five-year-olds were “too easy” for the young player, he said. Watching him play for England was “almost like having your own son play, I’m incredibly proud”.
Things are on the up in Stockport. Stockport County matches now usually sell out, the stadium is expanding, and after spending decades in the wilderness the club finished last season as champions of League Two and the trophy has been on a tour of local schools and junior football clubs.
Why is there so much footballing talent around these parts? According to Phil Brennan, 65, a freelance football journalist and former youth coach, it is because junior football has been taken seriously here for some time.
“In and around Manchester around 2002 it started to get really serious,” he said. “Instead of just having parents at the side watching their children, you would have parents who lived their lives through their kids, it became really intense.”
Brennan, who was named the Charter Standard north-west coach of the year in 2006, credited Makin with a lot of that success: a tournament he set up, the North West Junior Champions League, would attract teams from London and the Isle of Wight, and, more importantly, scouts from some of the biggest Premier League clubs.
Makin said: “Even now when I watch [Foden] on the television, you get that little pang of pride. When you’ve just been a small cog in the wheel that’s made him possibly one of the best footballers in the world.”
