Football and Music

Another round of the FA Cup coming up this Saturday (5th Jan 2008). In amongst the fixtures for the Third Round Proper is a previous cup winner who only a few weeks ago were a whispy ‘tache away from going into administration.

They were pulled back from the brink, as they were in the final, thanks to a player from another team.

I remember Coventry back in the old 1st Division. They were a bit of a voodoo team to some others. Somehow they kept themselves in mid-table mediocrity for many years until 1987 when for some reason they woke up and went on to win the FA Cup Final against a very decent Spurs side. It was a very exciting match and Coventry only won it in extra time thanks to a Gary Mabbut o.g.

After this they went on to achieve nothing else and slid back into the background, only to resurface in the headlines in 2001 after their eventual relegation from the Prem and then a few weeks ago when Ray Ranson and his consortium saved them from admin with only 30 minutes to spare.

But back to that FA Cup Final and of course the trip to the recording studio for the squad for the obligatory single.

In John Sillett’s team belting out this “tune” was their lovely keeper Steve Ogrizovic, Brian Kilcline, Cyril Regis and the scorer with that flying header, Keith Houchen.

» Coventry FA Cup Squad ‘87 - Go For It !

BONUS: YouTube clip - The Coventry team singing the song on Blue Peter.

EXTRA TIME: More related “music” associated with Cov…

(I’ve collected quite a few footie and musical recordings now and I have to mention the lazy effort by the songwriters. If your team plays in red there is a 99% chance that the song will contain “red” in the title. The same, not surprisingly, happens with blue (of Chelski, Brum…etc, etc. Come on people, try to be creative when you are doing these singles. Alright that’s the team colours that they play in and what the fans chant, but try to avoid the cliché occasionally.)

Evidence of all the cliché’s and no imagination being used »

» Sky Blue Army

A pisspoor effort. Taken the chant, added a Casiotone and some weak singing.

» Sky Blue Land

Apparently this song is played every time Coventry City win.   Which is…
Ahh I’m not going to. Too easy.

» The Believers - While The Sky Is Blue

Actually quite listenable, but please I don’t want to hear the words “sky” and “blue” any more !

History repeats itself…

It looks like Coventry are heading for sale and/or administration.
They’ll probably lose their photogenic boss too.

That 10 point deduction (if they do go into admin) will really help them recover.
Why does the FA do this ? Stupid if you ask me…

So to show some love to the Cov, a bit of music from that fair city which nearly everyone has been sent to at some time in their life.

It’s been over 25 years since another band sang about their troubled home town and now a new bunch of kids have arrived upon the scene, again singing of their woes and yearnings to be out of there, but this time it has a twist of Weller thrown in:

The Enemy… no not the opposing side who your lot are playing this week… are a band who when you listen to them, will remind you of other past musical artists.

The Holbrook trio are big footie fans and have appeared on Soccer AM. In April next year they’ll be playing two nights at the Ricoh Arena. This is where they met their original manager John Dawkins, under the Coventry City crest in the stadium after a game between Coventry and Celtic for a testimonial match.

The question is though, will the Sky Blues still be playing there.

- Two tracks from their latest CD, which the NME raved about.
Them and the album was recently in the news because XFM’s Zane Lowe banned any of their music from his show. The subsequent publicity from their ban helped in the sale of the CD, which sold an extra 10,000 copies. The band then sent the Gold Disc awarded to them for the album sales to the DJ as a thank you.

Hmm… banned music on the radio… extra sales from it… History repeating…

As mentioned you’ll be reminded of other bands upon hearing them. More recycling of the past:

» The Enemy - Away From Here

» The Enemy - We’ll Live And Die In These Towns

(Going Underground…That’s Entertainment… The Jam have reunited !
I hope somebody does a mashup.)

Away From Here and We’ll Live And Die… So do The Enemy despise their home town that much ? Not according to Tom Clarke, who in an interview with a local newspaper talks about the album and mentions The Specials’ Ghost Town a couple of times.
Trifecta complete.