ENGLAND’S travelling tribe of football followers have a new song, We’re not Going Home, a lusty anthem roared to the tune of Knees up Mother Brown that has been adopted by every class of supporter.

In the early hours of yesterday the infamous Wags (wives and girlfriends of the English players) belted it out as they racked up yet another big drinks bill in Baden-Baden.

It’s also the song adopted around the barbecues on the makeshift campsites in Stuttgart, where England play Ecuador tomorrow, by the Wagless — men who have left their wives and girlfriends behind to enjoy a football festival.

For the Wags the World Cup is a never-ending round of sunbathing and spas, shopping, lobster and sushi, pink champagne and VIP travel to the odd football match.

For the Wagless, it’s what the Germans call life “auf achse” (on the axle), a daily diet of currywurst and lager, watching and talking about football with people from all over the world.

In a dusty car park in the shadow of Stuttgart stadium, Rick Nugent and Steve Clayton are revelling in it. They set off for Germany from Birmingham a week ago, the day after Mr Clayton, 35, was made redundant.

He said: “I phoned Rick and said ‘Fancy going to the World Cup?’ He said ‘Give me half-an-hour’, then he phoned back and said ‘Right, let’s do it’. So here we are and it’s brilliant.”

The two friends are travelling in Mr Nugent’s 1979 Volkswagen campervan, bedecked with England flags, fitted with a Porsche engine and capable of 110mph. And the odyssey is giving the two men a whole new view of Germany and the rest of the world.

Mr Nugent, a kitchen fitter, said: “We’ve met Swedes, French, Dutch and had a laugh with all of them. The Dutch and the Argies were on the motorway going to their game in Frankfurt and that was brilliant fun, beeping their horns and waving flags. And the Germans have been fantastic.

“What an event to unite the world — it’s bigger than the Olympics. I’m 41, I’ve got two kids and I’m living the dream.”

Around them, a steady stream of motorhomes was trundling into the car park. Luxury vehicles with names such as Sunliner and Globetrotter, converted ambulances and rattling old diesels that used to be horseboxes. Most were English, joining hundreds of Australians and Croats in Stuttgart for their Thursday match. “All around the stadiums where England play is Campervan City — it’s quite a sight,” said Martin O’Hara, 51, from Doncaster, who is with his brother and two friends.

He said: “We cook everything on the barbecue and use the campsite showers to keep the cleaning to a minimum. None of us is much good at housework.”

The same might be said for the Wags, who have round-the-clock maid service at their hotel in Baden-Baden. For a change of scene, Nancy Dell’Olio led a party of 19 women to the 12th-century Schloss Neuweier, a restaurant in a Black Forest vineyard, on Thursday night. They were treated to a special menu — la cucina della passione — with not a Black Forest gateau in sight. They drank champagne and red wine, filled ashtrays with lipstick-stained cigarette butts and accumulated a €4,000 (£2,750) bill. “The Italian lady with the long black hair was at the head of the table,” said Gary Gawlik, their waiter. “She was the boss; she was great fun.”

After dinner, Coleen McLoughlin, Wayne Rooney’s fiancée, took most of the party to Garibaldi’s bar where they drank and sang until after 3am.

No wonder the song they were singing was We’re not Going Home.

Times Recommends

• It’s only Brits who don’t appreciate me, says Blair
• Party’s over for Greek graspers
• White House tightens security for Xmas marathon