Sing When You're Winning

Football supporters are the lifeblood of the national game. Battered by escalating admission prices, executive boxes, corporate hospitality, swanky out of town stadiums and blanket television coverage dragging footie far from its working class roots, the fans still turn out in their masses to sing t [...]
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Football supporters are the lifeblood of the national game. Battered by escalating admission prices, executive boxes, corporate hospitality, swanky out of town stadiums and blanket television coverage dragging footie far from its working class roots, the fans still turn out in their masses to sing their hearts out for the lads. And the songs they sing are something else. Tribal anthems, full of passion, wit and cultural identity that can instantly inform, delight and provoke in equal measures, as bizarre and apparently random as their chosen songs often are. Following his voyages of discovery around Ireland and England, Colin Irwin goes off on his travels again, this time donning bobble hat and scarf in pursuit of the ultimate football anthem. From Gillingham to John O'Groats FC, he joins the fans of Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Newcastle and all the other leading clubs in the country...and many obscure ones too. He looks at the history of the songs, drinks with the fans in an attempt to unravel the mystery of the seemingly spontaneous songmaking, devours a lot of dodgy pies and attempts to launch his own terrace chant.After meeting a bewildering array of colourful, noisy characters with interesting haircuts, he returns with a sore throat and a million anecdotes...