The date had long been circled in Harry Kane’s diary. In the middle of an unrelenting summer, June 23 offered the opportunity to draw breath and England’s captain had a plan for how he and his team-mates could unwind.
So, at the beginning of April, Kane phoned a friend to see if he could help. To be precise, it was his Grammy-award winning friend Ed Sheeran. There haven’t been many openings for Sheeran to perform in front of a crowd these past 15 months but that was about to change.
Kane’s request was simple: will you come and play for the England squad?
Ed Sheeran performed a private concert for England stars at St George's Park before their victories over Germany and Ukraine to reach the Euro 2020 semi-final
England have been in inspired form since winning Group D, beating Germany and Ukraine
It was not a leap of faith for the Tottenham striker to think that Gareth Southgate’s squad would progress from Group D so, without any hesitation, Sheeran agreed. He would report to St George’s Park, with his guitar, to provide some light entertainment and distraction.
When Sheeran, an Ipswich Town fan who sponsors his club’s shirts, turned up at England’s base, the identity of their last-16 opponents was not known: two televisions had been set up to simultaneously show France’s big clash with Portugal and Germany’s meeting with Hungary.
The Football Association have created an environment at St George’s Park to make the camp as hospitable for the squad as possible. On Monday, for instance, two ice-cream vans came on site to let them have Mr Whippys. What they also have is ample space for outdoor dining and the good weather two weeks ago enabled chef Omar Meziane to oversee a barbecue.
As it was a rest day — and six days before the next fixture — the squad were permitted to have a drink, having beaten the Czech Republic 1-0 to win the group. Not everyone, though, accepted the invitation to have the Bud Light that was on tap.
Once the introductions were over, Sheeran began to play. Initially, the atmosphere was restrained. Some of his music was not the first choice of certain players, others were happy to just sit back and listen to him go through his repertoire before choosing to do some covers.
Sheeran played Angels, the old Robbie Williams fanfare, before mixing things with a more modern sound.
