Inside England’s camp for the Euros and the real reason why WAGs will be kept at a ‘secure distance’

Matthias Grafe tells Mail Sport he will never forget the day the England manager came to his resort in this quiet town in the heart of Germany.

He recalls how Gareth Southgate wasn’t fussed that the football pitch was covered by a blanket of snow but instantly knew his mind was made up.

Nestled in a forest on the outskirts of Blankenhain – a town with a population of less than 7,000 – this was the ideal location with the privacy he craved and the facilities he desired from three golf courses to a padel court and even a robot called Robbie, who only speaks German, to serve the players and collect their dishes.

Not to mention the two Michelin-star restaurants and the 2,500-square-metre spa known as the ‘Lindentherme.’ Once Southgate gave the green light for England officials to negotiate a deal for exclusive use of the Weimarer Land Spa and Golf Resort during the tournament, the final contract – estimated to be worth about £850,000 – was finalised within a matter of weeks, beating competition from Ronald Koeman’s Holland and Ralf Rangnick’s Austria.

Grafe insists that Germany wanted to use the resort had it not been for their contractual agreement with Adidas. That’s one-nil to England already. Instead, the German team will base themselves at the resort next week for a pre-tournament training camp, before moving on to their base camp in Herzogenaurach once England arrive.

‘It was winter and the pitch was under 20 centimetres of snow when Southgate came after the draw. It’s remarkable because he was the only coach who didn’t see the pitch,’ says Grafe, who owns the 400-acre site.

‘The England officials came very late compared to the others and I remember someone from the FA coming alone before and saying to me, “This is the 33rd different hotel I’ve visited. Why didn’t I start here?” And then Southgate came,’ Grafe reveals.

His resort wasn’t even on the official 100-strong shortlist provided by Uefa to teams given its location in Thuringia, at least three hours drive away from any of the venues where England play their group games, but it was recommended by QPR sporting director Les Ferdinand to the England manager. Ferdinand had visited previously with QPR, with then manager Michael Beale returning with Glasgow Rangers the following summer.

It is that far away from any major city that the local castle in Blankenhain, dating back to the 12th century, is in the process of getting converted into a media centre to accommodate for the travelling press.

With Uefa keen to make this tournament the most environmentally friendly on record, teams have been advised to make journeys of around three hours on rail or road to reduce emissions so England face a six-hour roundtrip by coach to Frankfurt for their second group game against Denmark. 

With the other group games against Serbia and Slovenia, in Gelsenkirchen and Cologne respectively and over four hours away from their base, road travel has been deemed impractical.

When Mail Sport visited England’s base, preparations were well under way with the construction of a helipad on-site amongst various other changes.

Throughout the tournament, the resort will become a high-security zone split into three sections with police controlling the first layer at the external perimeter of the forest surrounding the resort, followed by riot police as a second layer, and then security around the hotel, which has 160 employees.

The bar which houses a collection of 300 fine wines will shut down and will instead operate as a makeshift smoothie bar for the players. The hotel even has an opulent cigar lounge, which is named in honour of legendary American golfer Bobby Jones. Perhaps a place reserved for celebration only.

Hotel staff tell us they can’t wait for England to arrive but have been warned not to ask players for pictures. On our ride on a golf buggy to the training pitch across the resort, we’re told that the England players won’t be allowed to use these buggies because of the risk of injury. Instead, they will be transported via bus around the resort for training.

Three weeks before the Euros, fences are up around the pitch to ensure training (and penalty practice) can be done in secrecy and to ensure there is no repeat of Spygate – when a Leeds intern under Marcelo Bielsa was caught watching Derby train prior to their trip to Elland Road in 2019.

‘This fence was one of the things Southgate wanted more than anything,’ says Grafe.

‘I told him I even own the forest so I will find any spies and kick them out,’ he jokes.

‘To make them feel at home, even the grass will be the same as Wembley. The FA’s greenkeepers arranged to put the same seed in as the Wembley grass. The pitch is the most important thing but I told them that don’t forget this is Germany and come July 14, Berlin is not Wembley,’ Grafe insists.

England will do everything they can to replicate the feel of home and as Mail Sport revealed in March, even the scent of St George’s Park will be transported to Germany to provide a sense of familiarity for the players as England aim to create an optimal environment. There are three special fragrances – one for the main area, another for the gym and recreation areas and another for the players’ bedrooms.

Just like they did at their Al Wakrah base in Qatar, where Three Lions frosting was added to the windows, the base will undergo a complete transformation with England branding wherever you look.

England have exclusive access to all 94 rooms, usually priced at £300 a night, of which 15 are suites, with the three best suites having golf-themed names like Albatross, Birdie and Eagle, each of which includes a private sauna and a free-standing bath tub. Southgate will likely occupy one of these suites.

The simple timber-clad rooms for the players will have their own special touches with personal accessories and mementos from their families, and England are going as far as taking their own high quality bed-linen and personalised Three Lions bath robes with embroidered badges.

None of the six on-site restaurants have English-language menus but England will travel with a dedicated team of chefs and dieticians living with them. On days that families will be allowed by Southgate – which is only expected to be on the day after a match as the team wind down – up to 300 guests can reside at the resort but there is unlikely to be a repeat of Baden-Baden in 2006 when the WAGs created as many headlines as the players.

Based up the road from England’s base under Sven Goran Eriksson in Buhl, the usually quiet spa town of Baden-Baden was thrust into the spotlight after reports of drunken dancing on tables and sky-high hotel bills.

From Victoria Beckham taking 60 pairs of sunglasses to bottles of Veuve Clicquot being drunk through straws and a £57,000 hour-long shopping trip, the headlines didn’t stop as the likes of Coleen Rooney, Cheryl Cole and Abbey Clancy all left their mark. The German newspaper Bild reported: ‘It has turned into Shopping-Shopping in Baden-Baden.’

‘We became a bit of a circus,’ Rio Ferdinand later admitted.

Eriksson had lobbied hard for the venue which the FA felt was secluded and encouraged the players to bring their families if they wanted. Of the 23-man squad, only 19-year-old Aaron Lennon didn’t bring a partner.

This time round, Southgate has promised the families they will be able to meet the players, but he has made it clear he will assess when and how that will be once the tournament has kicked off.

The nearest city to England’s camp is medieval Erfurt, 20 miles away, something that will please Southgate, who wants his players to be free from any distraction as they bid to end England’s 58-year trophy drought.

Eriksson defended the off-pitch activities in 2006 but the aftermath was so bad that Fabio Capello decided to ban families and friends four years later in South Africa at a remote base camp in Rustenburg.

That backfired when star names such as John Terry and Wayne Rooney said they were bored and isolated. That is something England officials have taken on board in recent campaigns under Southgate. ‘The greatest fear is that of boredom,’ says Grafe. ‘One of the biggest challenges is not to get bored – remember, it’s not a training camp. It’s a home and everything will be arranged to make it feel like a home.’

To deal with boredom, a padel court was installed at the site at the request of former Germany manager Hansi Flick and England have specifically requested basketball courts, with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Harry Maguire and Jude Bellingham expected to be regulars. Though Harry Kane, the England captain, prefers his American football.

‘When Hansi Flick came, he asked for a padel court so I built one. They told me it would cost £42,500. It was more expensive than that but I told the English team “Hey, I have a padel court.” And they said our footballers like basketball and our main sponsor is Nike, so can you construct some basketball courts? I can tell you it was cheaper than the padel courts’ Grafe adds.

There will be a games area with table tennis, darts and pool tables and a communal area for the team to watch football and play Uno, which is known to be popular amongst the squad.

The inflatable unicorns that have become a feature in recent campaigns are expected to return, with England having the choice of both indoor and outdoor pools.

Above all, the on-site golf courses with 45 holes should keep the players busy. ‘The Germans and English are the same. They book the hotel and exclusive use of one of the golf courses,’ Grafe adds. There is even talk among the players to install a golf simulator and challenge the media to see who can hit the longest drive. In previous years, the players have played darts with the press.

During our visit, a helicopter lands and for Grafe, the hope is that Prince William as President of the FA, will visit during the tournament to meet the squad.

‘The origin of the Windsor family is not far from here, in Gotha. The original family name is Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They changed their name after the war so nobody could link them to the Germans,’ he says. ‘But we are all so proud. Three years ago, I had the vision to not just turn this into a Uefa base camp but to have the 2024 European champions here. I told all of the managers that I want the future European champions so England have to win now because I chose them.

‘The Germans would have stayed here if they could. I have a dream that on 14th July in Berlin, it will be Germany versus England. I just hope it doesn’t go to penalties because you know what that means!’