Harry Kane pleads for England fans’ support after cups thrown at Gareth Southgate

Harry Kane says England will improve in the knockout stage - PA/Martin Rickett

Harry Kane has appealed to England’s fans to stay behind the team as manager Gareth Southgate stuck to his schedule after having plastic beer cups thrown at him.

Southgate was targeted following the goalless draw with Slovenia that clinched top spot in Group C and Kane alluded to the incident that saw three beer cups aimed at the England manager.

Kane and the England players returned to their Blankenhain base in the early hours of Wednesday morning and stuck to their normal routine, other than Phil Foden who returned to the UK for the birth of his third child with his partner.

Players underwent a group recovery session that included yoga and bike work, individual treatments, such as massages, and spent time with their families, who are allowed into camp the day after games.

Southgate did not change England’s schedule or call any sort of so-called crisis meetings, despite having the beer cups thrown at him and being on the receiving end of an angry reaction from fans after the Slovenia draw.

Asked on the Football Association’s Lions’ Den programme whether he had a message for the fans, England captain Kane said: “To keep supporting us. I know there was a bit of stuff after the game, but the atmosphere was incredible yesterday.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the fans do what they always do. They’re singing, they’re chanting, they’re pushing us on. I know the fans back home watching in the pubs, they’re pushing us on. They want us to be successful.

“You’re always going to get maybe one or two that take it a bit too far, but that’s football, that’s life. We’ve all been around long enough to have been a part of that. From our point of view, just keep doing what they’re doing. We know they’re behind us.

“They know that we’re giving everything, we’re putting everything on the line to try to be successful. Nothing’s changed from that point of view.

“That second half, especially, was one of the best atmospheres I have ever heard from our fans in a major tournament. We just appreciate all the support they give us. Overall, we are going to need more of that throughout the tournament.”

Confirming that it had been business as usual at base camp, other than Foden’s departure, Kane said: “Today is always a day where you’re taking a deep breath. You’ve got through the group stage. Just take a breath. Have a day to chill.

“In these major tournaments, you’re climbing a mountain. I feel like we’re halfway up the mountain right now. We’re at that stage where there’s still a long way to go. We’ve been away for a while, so some players need a bit of time to chill.”

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England did not impress during their three Group C games, narrowly beating Serbia and drawing with Denmark and Slovenia, but Kane described that stage as “irrelevant” now he and his team-mates are focusing on the knockout phase.

“The tournament is split into two halves and, without sounding rude, the group stage now is irrelevant,” said Kane. “We’ve done what we had to do. We learned from the games. We learned from some mistakes.

“We take the positives from what we’ve done well. But that’s in the past. No one really cares about that now. Now it’s about what we do in the knockouts.

“That’s what we’re going to be remembered for. That’s what we’ve been remembered for in the past tournaments as well. That’s our mindset. We’re relaxed.

“I feel like we have more in the tank for sure if you look at the last couple of tournaments, especially beating Germany and then Ukraine in the last Euros, and beating Senegal in the World Cup. We have had some of our best performances in the knockout rounds.

“Whether that’s because teams have to come out a little bit more and they have to attack a little bit more as well, who knows? But we’ve seemed to have played some really good games in the knockouts, and we’re hoping we can take that into this tournament as well.”

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