It’s fair to say, when many of us were younger, we may well at some point have dreamed about becoming a footballer.
And, if so, it’s likely that spending the weekends playing in front of thousands of people, getting paid lots of money and – hopefully – going to the World Cup were all part of the fantasy.
However, for most people, your dream dies when you realise you really aren’t that good at football and, more increasingly, being able to lift a trophy appears extremely unlikely.
But one man, Pat Frost, has found a way to live that dream – at least parts of it, anyway. That’s because he gets to follow his beloved Three Lions around the world as part of his job – as the England kitman.
Frost, formerly of West Bromwich Albion, jetted out to Russia with Southgate’s side in the summer and spent a thrilling four weeks attending to the players’ needs.
He said: “I had a phone call from Gareth myself, asking if I fancied coming (to Russia).
“It was very good, especially when the head coach rings up and asks you!
“I was questioning him on the other end of the phone.”
Throughout the tournament, Frost provided his 17,000 followers with behind the scenes updates via his Twitter account @KitmanPat.
Following Harry Kane’s hat-trick, which helped England to an impressive 6-1 victory over Panama, Frost was celebrating the win by cleaning the striker’s boots. The kit-man posted a picture of the skipper’s boot with the message: “Just gone to clean this little sucker… it’s going to have to wait… it’s still too hot to hold.”
Just gone to clean this little sucker ….it's going to have to wait…it's still too hot to hold ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️😍 pic.twitter.com/ZhHXOMgXbv
— Pat Frost (@KitmanPat) June 25, 2018
While Pat clearly takes advantage of the fun and excitement of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, even being England’s kit-man can get stressful.
Among the tweets Frost receives, he was once asked whether he has ever made any mistakes on the job, to which he addressed a close-call prior to the win over Sweden.
Frost tweeted: “Wrong shirt size for Harry Maguire last match… had to print a new one in less than three mins… that’s pressure.”
Wrong shirt size for Harry maguire last match….had to print a new one in less than 3 mins….that's pressure
— Pat Frost (@KitmanPat) July 8, 2018
The Telford-born kit-man is used to travelling around the world and definitely doesn’t take his superb job for granted.
“I’m the luckiest bloke in the world,” Frost said.
“Last year I was away for 90 days. I went to the senior men’s World Cup and I came back for seven days and then went straight out to the women’s U20s World Cup in France.
“I’m very, very lucky!”
