“I just found out that Slade’s 1978 single Give Us a Goal (failed) had a video shot at the Goldstone Ground in Brighton. What other music videos have been shot in football stadiums?’ Phil Withall tweets.
We’ve ignored the official club songs, for obvious reasons, so let’s go straight to what was, by far, the most popular response to our inbox. “My local Prestwich band the Fall shot the video for their single Kicker Conspiracy in Burnley’s Turf Moor,” writes Michael Mand. “It ends with the legend, ‘filmed in Burnley.’
Mark E Smith was a Manchester City fan so if anyone knows how Fall ended up at Turf Moor please let us know. In the video, he restores the world of football – “Under marble [Bert] Millichip/the FA broods/how talent can be punished” – from various points within the ground. It’s a time capsule, with everything from barbed wire to adverts for Stones Best Bitter.
Check out what Smith had to say about the song in an interview when Saturday comes:
You couldn’t mention football in the rock world back then. We were at Rough Trade and I told them “it’s about football violence” and they were all: “You don’t go to football do you?” I remember Melody Maker saying: “Mark Smith apparently has writer’s block writing about football.” About five years later, the same guy reviewed something else saying it was a load of rubbish and “nowhere near the heights of the Kicker conspiracy”. And now, of course, all the old musical hacks are in the director’s box with Oasis.”
Part of the video for Victoria, a cover of Fall’s Kinks, was also filmed in a football stadium. We’re not entirely sure where, but one of the many fall resources online suggests it was at Surrey Docks Stadiumformer home of Fisher Athletic.
Smith wasn’t the only icon to come up with the idea of filming in a football stadium in 1983. “The video for the Style Council’s hit Solid Bond in Your Heart was shot at Kingfieldthe home of Woking (Paul Weller’s city club),” writes John Chubb.
of Fulham Craven Cottage provided the background for at least a few videos: Boy Done Good by Billy Bragg and Beautiful Life by Ace of Base. Chelsea allowed Culture Club to shoot a clip for The Medal Song video before a match against Watford in 1984. Bass player Mikey Craig scores for Chelsea (at least that’s what the video implies. The story goes that he kept missing the target , which led to some creative editing) and then hoists a cheap trophy to an adoring crowd.
Then came the smash hit of 2005. “Coldplay’s video for Fix You features Chris Martin walking and then running through the streets at night before taking to the stage with the rest of the band,” recalls Clive Matthews. “The stadium in question is located on the ground formerly known as the Reebok Stadium, the home of Bolton Wanderers. I was there that night as we had to listen to the song three or four times while they made sure they got the shots they needed for the video.”
Erwin Cifuentes is among those who mention the Pixies, whose video for Allison, a short and sweet song on their wonderful album Bossanova, was shot in Olympic stadium in Amsterdam in September 1990.
Desiigner’s Outlet video featuring Paul Pogba has been shot Old Trafford in 2017.
Let’s finish for now, in no particular order, with a few more of your Twitter suggestions: Louis Tomlinson (Keepmoat StadiumDoncaster), Sigrid (Color Line StadiumÅlesund), La Trinca (Camp Nou), Skank (MineiraoBelo Horizonte), Jaime Roos (Estadio CentenarioMontevideo, and with the mighty Obdulio Varela) and Soprano (Stade VelodromeMarseille).
Golden boots galore
In last week’s Knowledge, we looked at players who have won the golden boot in two or three different countries. And there are a few serial netbusters we overlooked…
“John Charles topped the charts in England (38 goals for Leeds) in 1956-57,” begins Gordon Smith, “and then in Italy (28 goals for Juventus) the following season.”
“Giorgi Demetradze was the top scorer in Georgia in 1996-97 (26 goals in 26 games for Dynamo Tbilisi), Russia in 1999 (21 goals in 29 games for Alania Vladikavkaz) and Ukraine in 2003-04 (18 goals in 28 games for Metalurh Donetsk), writes Dirk Mass. “Viðar Örn Kjartansson became Iceland’s top scorer in 2013 (13 goals in 22 games for Fylkir), Norway in 2014 (25 goals in 29 games for Vålerenga ) and Israel in 2016-171 in 33 games)’.
Finally, Adam Rees has an even more recent example. “What about the amazing Sam Kerr?” notes Adam. “He won seven Golden Boots in six years in three leagues: Australia/New Zealand with Perth Glory (2017-18, 2018-19), North America with Sky Blue FC and Chicago Red Stars (2017, 2018, 2019) and England. with Chelsea (2020-21, 2021-22). Not just three leagues, but three continents.”
A colossal caregiver
“Has a caretaker manager ever saved a Premier League team from relegation?” Jonnie Dance tweets.
Oh yes. Blackburn legend Tony Parkes, the caretaker manager, had several spells in temporary charge at Ewood Park. The biggest and most important was the 1996-97 season. When Ray Harford resigned at the end of October, Blackburn – who had been champions 18 months earlier – were winless and bottom of the table.
Parkes took over for the rest of the season (Blackburn were waiting for Sampdoria manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who had agreed to join them in the summer of 1997 but then changed his mind). Parkes steadied the team immediately – taking 32 points from the first 19 league games (W8, 8-3), including wins over title contenders Newcastle and Liverpool. Despite finishing the season badly, Blackburn were officially safe with a game to spare after a 0-0 draw against Middlesbrough in a rebuilt game (yes, that one) at Ewood Park. They finished the season in 13th place, two points above the relegation places and Parkes’ job was done. Until next time.
Knowledge archive
“Is the incident involving CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia the first time a match has ever been delayed by a snow war?” asked Nathan Fisher in 2014.
No it was not. On 19 December 2010, Larissa fans took advantage of a rare snowfall in Greece to hurl ice missiles at Vassilis Torosidis of Olympiakos. On the same day in Belgium, Anderlecht’s Jonathan Legear and Mbark Boussoufa came under heavy fire from Club Brugge fans, with the referee having to take the players back to the dressing room for seven minutes before the restart. Anderlecht went on to beat their opponents 2-0, with Legear celebrating with his fans, much to the chagrin of a Club Brugge referee who pushed the Belgian player. This is the footballer, remember, who caused £240,000 worth of damage by crashing his Porsche into a petrol station in 2012.
In 2012, Dynamo Moscow forward Zvezdan Misimovic was given a one-match ban and fined £1,300 for kicking snowballs at Spartak Moscow fans during the warm-up or “provocative actions that created a threat to start a disturbance on the pitch”. , according to the Russian Football Association. Spartak fans responded in kind.
You can help?
“A new project has a Gareth Southgate character,” begins Nick Williamson. “Which real-life football people have appeared most often in drama or fictional form?”
“After almost 30 years, Neil Warnock has returned to take charge of Huddersfield. Has any manager had a longer gap between spells at the same club,” wonders Daniel Djan.
@TheKnowledge_GU just saw The Graun has an article about some English non-league team having a Norwegian supporter's club. What's the smallest British/Irish team with a foreign supporter's club?
— Alba Punk (@punk_alba) February 15, 2023
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@TheKnowledge_GU just saw The Graun has an article about some English non league team having a Norwegian fan club. What is the smallest British/Irish team with a foreign fan club?
— Alba Punk (@punk_alba) February 15, 2023
“Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez have managed Everton, Napoli, Real Madrid and Chelsea. Is four teams a record between two managers or is there a duo that can break it?” asks Darien Boldt.
Has any player ever scored with just a sock on ? Meaning they had a boot and then lost it, and that the scoring strike was with the boot-less foot ?
— cthulhuey lewis & the news (@tresdessert) February 21, 2023
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Has a player ever scored with only one sock? So they had a boot and then lost it, and that the score was made with the bootless foot?
— cthulhuey lewis & the news (@tresdessert) February 21, 2023
“Loris Karius could make his Newcastle debut in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United. Ryan Bertrand famously made his European debut for Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final – but there are players who played theirs only playing for a club in a cup final?’ asks Sam Milne.
Send us your questions or tweet us @TheKnowledge_GU.