The Blossoms frontman recalls beers with Dickov and odd photos with Mancini
Niall Doherty
KEEPING THE FLAG FLYING The Izmir derby in Turkey’s second tier was abandoned after just 25 minutes, when a Goztepe fan attacked Altay’s keeper with a corner flag Which was the first game that you ever attended?
A League Cup game in August 1999, Manchester City vs Burnley at Maine Road. It was shortly after we won promotion from the Second Division via the play-offs against Gillingham, so I was already falling in love with football at that point. That summer, I would have been at my mum and dad, saying, “Get me to a match!” [Laughs] I didn’t really have any kind of concept of how bad things had got for City compared with what they used to be like in the ’60s and ’70s – the Gillingham game was a turning point. I was only seven at the time, so you don’t know, it was just fun. I remember going up the steps as you get into the stadium, then you see the size of the pitch – it felt huge. Jamie Pollock was on the programme cover, I’ve never forgotten that.
Who was your childhood hero and did you ever meet them? It was Paul Dickov [below]. Me and Joe [Donovan, Blossoms drummer] go to the games but now they put us in the nice bits, so we end up bumping into some of the legends. We had a beer with Dickov after a game – his son is a fan of our band. Joe got something signed for me for my birthday, a shirt with a message from Paul. I used to write his name in marker pen on the back of my shirts as a kid. Shaun Goater was another big hero of mine. Mark Kennedy, too.
What do you like most about going to a game?
It reminds me of being younger – when I was a kid, all I was into was football. I became fully obsessed with music only when I was in my teens. Going to the game now, it reminds you of your first love. The day leading up to it is great – getting the train there, meeting your mates, talking about whatever’s happened during the week. It all just consumes you.
Who’s the best footballer-musician? Probably Serge from Kasabian, I saw him in Soccer Aid and he popped in a really nice lob over David Seaman. Tom Grennan is quite good as well.
What was your finest moment as a player... We’ve been on Soccer AM a few times and once three of us from Blossoms, back to back, smashed in volleys. I felt pressure because the other two lads scored and I was probably the best at football out of us. In my head was like, ‘Tom, you’ve got to score now, all of your mates are watching at home’. There were several moments when I was younger, too – I was pretty decent on the school teams. I was a central midfielder, but I played centre-back for
