By Christian Radnedge
STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) – “John the Swan” and “Keith the Teeth” may sound like characters from an old gangster movie but they are also affectionate nicknames within the England 2024 squad.
Right back Kyle Walker revealed the details, including his own moniker ‘Des’, in honour of former England international Des Walker who played 59 times as an accomplished central defender for his country.
“It’s just come from the Sheffield United days, a player called Matt Kilgallon called me ‘Des’ and obviously there was a very, very good footballer called Des Walker so it’s come from that,” the 34-year-old said.
Centre back Marc Guehi is playing in his first major international tournament but it has not taken him long to settle in and he is known as “Uncle Marc”.
Walker said it was because of the way Guehi looks after everyone, despite the fact he is only 23 years old.
John Stones is “John the Swan” because he’s just very elegant, Walker added, while Kieran Trippier has a less graceful moniker.
“Tripps we call ‘Keith the Teeth’ because of the nice teeth that he’s decided to put in,” Walker said.
The nicknames may become more negative if Gareth Southgate’s side do not advance to the last 16 after playing Slovenia on Tuesday in Cologne.
(Reporting by Christian Radnedge, editing by Ed Osmond)
