Former Sunderland landlord who painted pub with England flag decorates home ahead of Euro 2020
Alan Hurst has always been a ‘huge’ England supporter and has followed the Three Lions for as long as he can remember.
This isn’t the first time Alan has gone all out to support the lads having painted a giant England flag on the front of a pub for the 2008 tournament.
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Hide Ad"I thought it would only take half an hour but it took a bit longer than that to do – thankfully I have a great window cleaner who helped with the flags higher up,” he told the Echo.
"I’m a big England supporter and I’ve always decorated the house for the matches.
"Even when we’ve been on holiday with the grandkids I’ve painted their faces and we’ve gone to watch the match somewhere.
"I’m 60 next year and I haven’t seen us win yet – I’m a Sunderland supporter too so I guess that lines up.
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Hide Ad"I’ve got a little bit of hope this year, we’ve got a good team – a strong younger team with some older more experienced players in there too.”
Alan says he will be watching Gareth Southgate’s team take on Croatia at The Grey Horse, off Penshaw Lane, where he was the landlord between 2007 and 2011.
During the Euro 2008 tournament, Alan painted a giant England flag on the front of the pub to mark the occasion.
The last time the football fan saw the Three Lions play was in 2017 where the team beat Malta 4-0 in the World Cup qualifiers.
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Hide Ad"I think we’ll win 3-1 against Croatia and I think Harry Kane will get a goal, even if it’s a penalty,” said Alan.
But he doesn’t think the upcoming group match against Scotland – which takes place at Wembley on Friday June 18 – will be an easy win.
"Everyone thinks we’re going to turn them over dead easy but it’s not going to be that easy in my opinion. I think that it’s going to be a close game I think they’ll only be a goal in it.”