The most problematic England v Germany headlines over the years

Football sometimes brings out the worst in Brits. And today’s match between England and Germany at Euro 2020 - which ended in victory for the home side - came with a whole lot of history.

It’s history that the often xenophobic British tabloids have embraced over the years, with a cascade of mildly problematic front pages used to mark the lead-up to, and aftermath of, big games between England and Germany.

Here are some of the notable offenders, along with one rather weird Ashes reference:

‘Achtung surrender’, 1996,  Daily Mirror

During his nine years at The Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan often courted controversy.

Ahead of the 1996 England V Germany game, the British tabloid’s front page unnecessarily used a World War reference, barking, “Achtung! Surrender - For you Fritz, ze Euro 96 Championship is over!” in an attempt to ratchet up the stakes in a rather distasteful way.

It was accompanied by a picture of Stewart Pearce and Paul Gascoigne in army hats.

Stuart Pearce, and Gazza, two of the 1996 side’s starsTwitter

‘Blitzed!’, Sunday Mirror, 2001

The Sunday Mirror went with another lazy war reference back when England secured a 5-1 victory over Germany.

German Culture Minister Michael Naumann once said: “There is only one nation that has decided to make the Second World War a sort of spiritual core of its self-understanding and pride.”

He’s - sadly - got a point.

Another lazy war referenceTwitter

Oliver Kahn’s gloves on fire, The Mirror, 2001

The Mirror hit us with a rather startling image of Oliver Kahn’s gloves on fire which read: “In affectionate remembrance of arrogant, clinical, penalty-scoring, and downright bloody irritating German football, which died at the Olympiastadion, Munich, on 1st September, 2001. Deeply unlamented by a large circle of English football fans, RIP.”

A reference, if you missed it, the pronouncement of the death of English cricket in the 1880s after a particularly bad defeat by England, and the alleged burning of a cricket ball.

This one’s a stretchEbay

‘West Germany may beat us at our national sport today, but that would be only fair. We beat them twice at theirs’, 1966, Daily Mail

The ‘football war’ was clearly a front for the Daily Mail’s desperate attempt to drag up the past and drum up a culture war.

‘Job done... now for the hun’, 2010, Daily Star

The Daily Star hit a low blow, back in 2010 by referring to Germans as the derogatory term, ‘huns’, which was commonly used during World War 1.

This sort of thing just wouldn’t fly in 2021The Daily Star

‘If The Few had defended as badly as England we'd all be speaking German now’, 2010, Daily Mail

Controversial columnist Richard Littlejohn dusts off another war reference after England were massively outplayed at the 2010 World Cup.

Despite the hype, the 2010 side fizzled at the World CupDaily Mail

Some of the other notable offenders:

• ‘Achtung Stations’ - 1982
• ‘The Battle of the Krauts’ - 1987
• ‘Help Our Boys Clout The Krauts’ - 1990
• ‘Lets Blitz Fritz’ - 1996
• ‘Watch out, Krauts, England are gonna bomb you to bits at Wembley’ - 1996

Thankfully, this type of nonsense seems to be fading out. Philip Oltermann took to Twitter to compare the tabloid coverage of today V 1996’s. He said:

“Whisper it quietly, but British today’s tabloid coverage of England v Germany today is a far cry from “Let’s Blitz Fritz” spirit of 1996. Bawdy, brash and fun, but also respectful.”

Phew. Let’s have no more of the war stuff, thanks.