A Three Lions superfan who has covered his house in St George’s flags says he is “England through and through” and won’t be deterred by trolls who call him racist.
Martin Baker has adorned his home in Thanington, Canterbury, with dozens of patriotic decorations as Euro 2024 kicks off.
The bricklayer has even painted his driveway red and white in support of Harry Kane and co - who take on Serbia in their first game of the tournament tonight.
But when a picture of his house was posted on social media, some criticised the decorations, claiming the St George’s flag was associated with racism.
The 50-year-old said: “There were some nasty comments with people saying things like, ‘You’re National Front’ and ‘What universal credit do you claim?’"
But the dad-of-three says it won't put him off.
He added: “I’ve done this loads of times - every time the Euros or the World Cup is on all the flags go up.
“I love England and I went one step further this year and painted the driveway myself with the flag.
“I’ve even been trying to get a huge flag for the roof but I can’t find one.
“The neighbours don’t seem to mind, and people are always stopping to take photos outside with all the flags."
Speaking of the comments from haters he said: "I just laughed it off. I put the flags up for a bit of fun.
“At the end of the day, I live in England, I’m in England, I’m England through and through and I’ll fly the English flag if I want to.”
A lifelong supporter of the national team, Mr Baker travelled to Portugal to watch England play in the 2004 Euros and even has the Three Lions badge tattooed on his chest.
This year he’ll be watching the action at the pub with some mates while enjoying a few beers - and he’s feeling confident about the side’s prospects.
He said: “I reckon we could go all the way. We have a good young side with some experience as well.
“So long as we make it through the group stages, I think we’ve got a great chance.”
Martin Baker has adorned his home in Thanington, Canterbury, with dozens of patriotic decorations as Euro 2024 kicks off.
The bricklayer has even painted his driveway red and white in support of Harry Kane and co - who take on Serbia in their first game of the tournament tonight.
But when a picture of his house was posted on social media, some criticised the decorations, claiming the St George’s flag was associated with racism.
The 50-year-old said: “There were some nasty comments with people saying things like, ‘You’re National Front’ and ‘What universal credit do you claim?’"
But the dad-of-three says it won't put him off.
He added: “I’ve done this loads of times - every time the Euros or the World Cup is on all the flags go up.
“I love England and I went one step further this year and painted the driveway myself with the flag.
“I’ve even been trying to get a huge flag for the roof but I can’t find one.
“The neighbours don’t seem to mind, and people are always stopping to take photos outside with all the flags."
Speaking of the comments from haters he said: "I just laughed it off. I put the flags up for a bit of fun.
“At the end of the day, I live in England, I’m in England, I’m England through and through and I’ll fly the English flag if I want to.”
A lifelong supporter of the national team, Mr Baker travelled to Portugal to watch England play in the 2004 Euros and even has the Three Lions badge tattooed on his chest.
This year he’ll be watching the action at the pub with some mates while enjoying a few beers - and he’s feeling confident about the side’s prospects.
He said: “I reckon we could go all the way. We have a good young side with some experience as well.
“So long as we make it through the group stages, I think we’ve got a great chance.”
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FunTranscript
00:00These up every time there's a major competition on. I had the World Cup or the Euros and this year
00:06I've come one step further and obviously done the drive. She painted the drive when my partner was
00:12at work so I sent her whatsapp through and she came home and she was quite shocked. The neighbours
00:17love it. The whole estate, people come round, people take photos, come up and take photos,
00:25drive off. And I know you've got a couple of nasty comments on Facebook accusing your
00:31association with the St George's flag, with the National Front and this sort of thing.
00:34But what do you say to that? To be quite honest, I do this for fun. English through and through.
00:40I follow England and to be honest, all them nasty comments. I'm not on Facebook anyway.
00:50I just don't worry about things like that. So you think England's got a good chance of winning
00:53this year? Yeah I'll do this year. There's a strong team. We've got more youngsters coming
00:59through. We've got the old school there as well. Yeah I think we can go all the way this year.