Days before he was due to meet Prince William at St George’s Park and fly to a tournament he could hardly have believed he was involved in a year ago, Cole Palmer made a stopover in his home country.
The Black Boy Pub in Wythenshawe, the district of Manchester where he comes from. Bunting outside, a bouncy castle ready to be blown up. This place will be packed on a Sunday, a call for garden furniture under a smart wooden cover with two screens.
They come from the tenements across the road, the semi-detached houses built in the 1960s. The sense of community in these areas is as strong as ever and it is the place that Palmer – now with Chelsea in the bright lights – still calls home, where he feels most at ease.
It’s a safe haven for him to just be, sitting and listening to the buzz with a soda. For someone who doesn’t like attention or talking unless spoken to, that’s a valuable asset.
“After the England friendlies he would come back and watch the local pub team,” says Palmer’s first coach at NJ Wythenshawe, Graeme Fowler. “His dad Jermaine played for them. He comes back and watches all the time.
England stars Cole Palmer (left), Phil Foden (centre) and Kobbie Mainoo (right) all grew up within a 10-mile radius of Stockport
Now the trio are shining at Euro 2024 and have shown their quality in England’s race to the final
‘There was a presentation night. He didn’t give out the awards, he just came to show his face. Everyone knows him, so no one bothers him. The kids come around and ask for pictures and autographs and he does all that. He knows what a role model he is. But then he can just sit back and relax. He doesn’t have everyone all over him. It’s one big family.’
The pub was where Palmer won his Treble medals last year after a historic season with Manchester City. It stands proudly in the heart of the estate and is a five-minute drive from Hollyhedge Park towards the leafy Gatley. Hollyhedge is a great place where Jermaine would spend hours working on his son’s control, one reason why Palmer’s boots always seem to be covered in glue.
From there, Mail Sport will be making a short trip, as there are two other English stars not far away. Six miles south-east of the Black Boy is the indoor Box Football, formerly Shots.
Kobbie Mainoo’s arena, where his peers begged him to perform what became their trademark overhead kicks. Eight minutes to the north is Mainoo’s school, Cheadle Catholic Infants. Three miles to the north is Gatley Primary School, which Palmer attended.
Then head east: Phil Foden country. Four miles further on is Bridge Hall Primary and three miles north in the Heatons, just over the Stockport Pyramid, is Reddish Vulcans, Foden’s first club.
It takes little time to race through this area, throwing a blanket over three interesting points in English football. Mainoo and Foden are Stockport all the way. Palmer is Manchester, but his early training at Gatley — and his move to Cheadle — means Stockport can lay claim to him too. And they have, with council leader Mark Hunter congratulating the trio this week.
“The underprivileged areas had always been left untouched,” Fowler says. “Now everything is being looked at because of the amount of scouts. These are kids who have to fight for everything.
‘They have to work hard, it’s ingrained in them. That’s why they’re the ones who make it: you can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t work hard enough, you won’t get anywhere.’
Despite moving to Chelsea last summer, Palmer still returns to his hometown of Wythenshawe, Manchester
Both Palmer and Mainoo grew up as talented youngsters in the North West of England
Mainoo’s meteoric rise continued as he produced a stunning performance in the Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands
Reddish Vulcans had a ‘bus stop full of scouts’ waiting for him at the end of Foden’s games, according to his first coach and City recruitment co-ordinator Joe Makin, who once described Foden as ‘coming from heaven’. ‘The father who asked who he was looked at me with his mouth open,’ says Makin. ‘This is my 30th year at Vulcans and no one has given me that immediate feeling of ‘this could be a special occasion’.
‘We had three of them — Phil, Diego Latte and Mace Goodridge — who went to City for the Under-9s. So we put a bit on the website. The only thing I put about Phil was, “Foden, Phil Foden: remember that name — a left foot to die for.” He was smaller than the other lads, definitely quieter. He didn’t have much to say — still doesn’t really!’
There is a story that intertwines Foden and Mainoo, even though Foden is five years older. The setting is Shots. Foden’s younger brother is training there and the City Academy graduate, then around 15, turns up with him.
“Phil came a few times,” says Mainoo’s coach Paul Newton. Newton is a coach at City and runs Shots. He would hit balls around with Foden while the younger set-up trained on the other pitch.
‘Honestly, mind-boggling,’ he says. ‘Phenomenal talent. We had those five-a-side nets that were a bit higher, Phil was shooting from the halfway line and he was putting the ball into the top corner time and time again. What on earth is going on?’
Mainoo, then a striker, won two North West Champs of Champs tournaments set up by Makin. ‘He won it one year at his own age and then the year after that,’ says Newton. ‘All the scouts from Manchester United came up to me and said, “Who’s that kid playing for you?” I thought they were joking. He’d already signed for them!
Foden and Palmer were once teammates at Man City and remain good friends during international breaks
‘He came in and the boys said, “Oh Kobbie’s here, Kobbie’s here.” Kobbie would throw the ball up, do an overhead kick and land on his feet. From the age of seven. All the other kids, as soon as he arrived, would ask him to do that. He’s like an acrobat.’
Mainoo’s father Felix is never far from his side. The pair are like a duo according to Newton and there is a paternal element to the rise of all three players.
A short walk from Foden’s old house on Grenville Street in Edgeley is Alexandra Park. There is a lake where, towards the end of each day, local fishermen sit patiently waiting.
It’s believed that Foden fell in love with the pastime there, along with Phil Snr. ‘It’s still a strong hobby,’ says Makin. ‘They have a place in Stoke where they go fishing at night. They look very much alike, I can imagine them sitting there and not saying a word.’
Newton’s son, Sam, was in United’s academy with Mainoo and would catch lifts to the Cliff with Felix. ‘Sam told me how they used to talk about how each session had gone, positive and negative, and how they needed to move on,’ Newton says. ‘That’s unusual for a boy and a father because you can have conflicts sometimes. They had intellectual conversations from very early on. Felix was a huge mentor to Kobbie.’
Newton marvels at how Mainoo — “calm, laid-back yet fiercely competitive” — has made each jump up the ladder without fuss. It’s felt seamless, unlike Palmer’s journey, which saw City land a £42.5m bribe last summer.
Mainoo’s father Felix is never far from his side and supports him at the 2024 European Championship
Foden grew up in Stockport, while Palmer’s early school days in Gatley – and his move to Cheadle – means Stockport can also lay claim to him
‘There were setbacks at the academy,’ says Fowler. ‘He was called too small. There was a moment when he had a wake-up call. He was falling behind a bit and I remember his dad talking to him. He said, “I’m really going to go for it,” and he was in the gym, starting to do weight training and getting fit. The next thing you know, things started to happen.
“You know those tournaments you have in the summer? They’re all day long, so you’ve got kids eating burgers and chips, ice cream. Cole never had any of that. All he had was a packed lunch that his dad had made. Instead of chocolate, it was fruit. Water. That was from the age of seven. He always wanted to be that player.
“You know how kids are, they all want big burgers. But he knew that when he was going to play football, he wanted to put something different in his body. He’s always taken care of himself. That’s one of the reasons he’s where he is and you haven’t seen the best of him yet. There’s more to come.”
Stockport are expecting now and they may well have three on the pitch on Sunday in Berlin. ‘Welcome to Stockport, a twin city of Beziers and Heilbronn; home to three European Championship winners’ sounds a bit odd.