England fan spent £40,000 house deposit on World Cup trip for him and his dad
An England fan has spent £40,000 he’d saved up for a deposit on a house to fly him and his dad out to the World Cup.
Like millions of England fans across the country, Jack Goodwin, 34, is hoping to see the Three Lions lift the World Cup later this month.
However, unlike most fans, he’s put his money where his mouth is and has pre-booked hotels, flights and tickets to every game England can play in until the final in New Jersey on July 19 for him and his dad.
“We’ve been to New York, we’ve seen the World Cup and we’re going to see us bring it home. It’s a simple equation,” he told the Press Association.
Advert
“Me and my dad, we’ve been here since Dallas.
“We’ve done Dallas, Boston, New York, arrived in Atlanta… and we’re going all the way to the final and we’re going to watch us win the World Cup.”
Looking to the future, Goodwin is confident that England will beat the Democratic Republic of Congo when they face them later today.
“We’re going to smash them 4-0 and we’re going to play Mexico in the Azteca this Sunday which will be the dream game of all games, the creme of the creme,” he said.
“We’ve pre-booked everything now to the final – hotels, tickets, everything sorted.
“We were sweating because we got all our tickets through the FIFA ballot – if we didn’t top the group, all of our tickets would have become invalid.”
Goodwin, originally from West Sussex, revealed that all-in he’s spent around £40,000 but has no regrets because it’s ‘the trip of a lifetime’.
“It’s been very expensive. I saved up for a house and I blew my whole house deposit taking me and my dad out,” he said.
When asked how much, he replied: “How long’s a piece of string? A good £40,000.
“We’ve got everything at face value but that’s not to say it was cheap – it was mega expensive still.”
Explaining how he justified the trip to himself, he added: “Well, I’ve got no kids, I’ve got no wife, so why not?
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Although he happily parted with the cash for his dream trip, Goodwin did hit out at the ‘joke’ prices of tickets for the competition.
He said: “For the group games, I think it was around $350. We were in the Gods.
“But we’ve got category one tickets now for the next few games, and they were 600 dollars face value.
“The ticket for the final, which is a joke, was through the England Supporters Club.
“Face value for category two was $8,000 Australian, so about £4,000.”
But having seen how some fans have missed out, he counts him and his dad lucky.
“We’ve met a lot of people that did ballots and didn’t get tickets so we’re extremely lucky to be here to be honest,” he said.
Following England's lacklustre performance against the Ghanaians, Thomas Tuchel's men secured a top-place finish in their World Cup group by defeating Panama 2-0.
At 5pm UK time today (July 1), DR Congo await them as they enter the Last 32 knockout round, with tournament co-hosts Mexico potentially waiting for them in the Last 16 contest if they prevail.
Topics: World Cup
Claire Reid