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Opinion

Football, Music and Beer

8 years ago
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For me, ‘gannin to the match’ has a lot more to it than simply watching a game of football.

If you’re lucky like me you’ll get to share the experience with a few like-minded souls who enjoy a pint or two either side of the game.

Home matches are great, the route around town on a Saturday afternoon, the stuff of legends. The routes have got shorter recently, I’ll put it down to age and the emergence of kids within the group.

There’s no shock here; football, music and beer is a great mix, the latter can either enhance a good result or help you temporarily forget the bad. Here are some of the standout tracks that evoke great memories for me.

Pre-match once consisted of ordering jugs of Fosters in the Sports Cafe whilst Mad Mick generally, well, took the Mick out of match goers, away fans and policemen alike. We’d be shouting at each other to be heard while he blasted out the likes of The Jam, The Clash and The Bill theme tune.

Like a bit of pre-match jazz with accompanying Ham & Pease Pudding sarnies? The Duke on High Bridge is the place to go. A bar that by rights has so much wrong with it yet remains appealing.

Racing upstairs in the Percy post-match to hear a regular playlist featuring:

The Who ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’

The Skids ‘Into The Valley’

The Teardrop Explodes ‘Reward’

Sham 69 ‘The Kids Are United’

The Damned ‘New Rose’

Tenpole Tudor ‘Swords Of A Thousand Men’

I think we stopped going in there around the time the price of a pint went above £2!

Post-match celebrations in Rosie’s, fellas dancing on the bar to:

Dean Martin ‘That’s Amore’

and

The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ (Geordies)

A great place where, if you catch the mood right, it’s very easy to forget the time.

The pubs of wor great city don’t always get it right though, I remember The Hotspur getting Twitter abuse for playing Survivor’s ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ and Baddiel and Skinner’s ‘Three Lions 98’ before a derby!

Pelters! I don’t recall hearing much music coming from that establishment since.

Following NUFC has also taken me around the country, I’ve frequented many a pub everywhere I’ve went. Each place has its own soundtrack, normally partially formed on the journey.

Jimmy Nail ‘Big River’ – I swear that song played all the way to Norwich and back.

Another long trip was to Plymouth to see us crowned ‘Champions’. Plymouth were relegated to League 1 that night but they played Mark Knopfler’s ‘Local Hero’ and Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’, which just added to the good feeling I have for the place.

Through ‘gannin to the match’ I’ve met some great people, made some great mates, all the while soundtracked by some great tunes that have enhanced my musical education, it’s very much a way of life.

All this before you even push yourself through the turnstile.

Howay me bonny lads!!!

You can follow the author on Twitter @lyon1892

(Paul is one of our ever expanding team of regular/irregular writers, send in your original articles for our website to contribute@themag.co.uk)

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