So for this blog, I’m going back to my teenage years to dig out my favourite obscure songs which featured in a FIFA soundtrack, which I think is pretty obscure in itself!
The soundtrack is often what makes a FIFA game so great, a carefully curated mix of genres, new and established artists plus some classics (Town Called Malice by The Jam and Fools Gold by The Stone Roses on FIFA 2004 being good examples). It can often be a great platform for artists to get their music out there. But there are also songs by artists which sadly didn’t go on to success and this blog aims to celebrate and remember them a little.
My list is mainly from the era in which I played FIFA the most, the mid to late 00s. Plus there are so many other great songs on these soundtracks, many of which also take me back to those days, which I’ve sadly had to leave out as they’re by artists who did have more success (such as Foals who had Olympic Airways feature in FIFA 09 and Kings of Leon whose song Red Morning Light was a staple of FIFA 2004).
Most of these I’ve picked because the bands who performed them didn’t really go on to have much mainstream success, which is a shame, but they will be immortalised by getting a song onto one of these soundtracks.
This is purely subjective and I still sometimes listen to these songs as I’d downloaded them at the time and I still have them on playlists now. But I’d be curious to know which songs you remember? Let me know which ones you’d recommend!
But in the meantime, here are my picks which I’ve linked to their music videos on YouTube:
A song very much trapped in its time, mainly by the use of the phrase “me and my crew” Discotheque speaks of nights out and would feature on FIFA 07, before young James had much idea of what that was like! Young Love would be a band for only four years, so much like many other young loves, they burn out all too quickly. However, the memory of this song remains.
This French band are so obscure there isn’t even a Wikipedia page for them. However, Kaleidoscope made it onto FIFA 07 and it’s an indie banger. They, like so many acts on this list, would break up a little while after the song came out but I’m still unsure as to how “love’s like a kaleidoscope”. I guess we’ll never find out!
Also to feature on LMA Manager 2005, which young James would enjoy playing, not to manage a football team but to rebuild the stadium (which you couldn’t do on Champ Man, ok?) this song’s lyrics are somewhat questionable when you listen to them. But given it was on two of the biggest footballing games of the mid-00s and an iPod commercial, this song will probably be remembered a bit more than some other songs on this list! These guys have been on hiatus since 2012, so that means they’re getting back together soon, right?
Never even released as a single, New York Minute featured on Mobile’s first album. Their second would end up on the Indie Landfill and this Canadian band would break up in 2011. However, this song has a great chorus and it will live on by featuring on FIFA 07.
This song is also famous for being the soundtrack to The Inbetweeners, which young James can relate to a lot! But it appeared on FIFA 07 beforehand. Despite supporting Coldplay in 2005, they split up in 2007 after only releasing one album. I just hope the band still get a few quid in royalties!
What a classic this is. The Automatic had a couple more top 40s (including Raoul if anyone remembers that?) but this song has also been used on adverts and a number of TV shows and given its title is also likely to feature on every Halloween playlist forevermore. That doesn’t stop it from being a great tune though!
A one-time support act for Fall Out Boy in 2006, Shiny Toy Guns made it onto FIFA 07 with You Are The One. Using synths to add to their emo sound, it’s quite a nice duet but only charted at number 94 on the UK charts. This band also became popular because they uploaded their music to Myspace when that was at the peak of its power. Can you feel the nostalgia?
Sadly a one-hit wonder, Sam Sparro’s Black & Gold is a fantastic song which shows off his excellent voice. It featured on FIFA 09 and I think it stands the test of time as a solid dance record. It was even nominated for a Grammy, losing out to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk.
I only recently rediscovered this song in the summer at a friend’s party and is the inspiration behind this blog post. Pogo’s use of synth and the line “there’s something in the air” gives this song a spooky feeling. It also featured on Need For Speed: ProStreet. This German dance group are still performing to this day.
Saving the best till last, in my opinion! Boy Kill Boy was sadly to end up on the Indie Landfill with their second album and split up before young James had the chance to see them. However, their first self-titled album is an underrated indie classic. Pretty much every song is a banger, including Suzie which would also make the Top 40. Civil Sin is a darker song but no less of a tune. I was also lucky to see Boy Kill Boy in 2016 as they reformed briefly to play a tiny number of shows to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the album’s release. I was front row for the gig in Hackney and sang every word, something I never thought I’d do! (photo below!)
With the Premier League returning this weekend, I’ve teamed up with my good friend Daniel Warren to write about the Top 10 English Football Managers of all time. We were looking at English managers because it’s been nearly 30 years since Howard Wilkinson led Leeds to the First Division title. He was the last Englishman to win the top title in England and we thought it would be interesting to review the best England has offered.
So, in no particular order, here we go! Hope you enjoy reading our list!
Bob Paisley
On our list Bob Paisley is the most successful English Manager, managing a domestic club, winning the First Division 6 times and the European Cup 3 times, being only one three people to achieve this. He won the League Cup on 3 occasions and the UEFA Cup. Like Clough the FA Cup always avoided him. Paisley was Mr. Liverpool having won the first division with them as a player in 1947, he had his best years as player robbed by the Second World War and retired from playing in 1954.
After retiring, Paisley joined the Liverpool back-room staff as a self-taught physiotherapist and was said to have the knack of being able to diagnose a player’s injury just by looking at them (Would never happen today!). He later held roles as the reserve team coach before becoming Bill Shankly’s assistant in 1959. Shankly who was Scottish and hence does not qualify for this list rebuilt the fortunes of Liverpool taking them from the old Second Division to challenging again for titles and cups.
Shankly described Paisley as “the perfect number: never a threat to Shankly but always offering wise counsel”. Paisley was described as an unassuming character and “happy to play second fiddle”, but was key to Liverpool’s revival, he was the great motivating force behind Liverpool, it was Paisley who was the tactician.
When Shankly Retired in 1974 Paisley was approached to be manager and was reluctant to take the job on as manager. He was persuaded and whilst many Liverpool fans talk about the spirit of Shankly it was really Paisleys Liverpool. League and European success followed and in 9 years as a manager he became the most successful English man to manage a domestic club. Its iconic that his managerial career in the top job was relatively short but a coaching career spanning nearly 30 years and inheriting one of the most talented sides in Europe leads him into this list. England’s most successful managerial product a quiet, unassuming man who was the son of a miner from County Durham.
Stan Cullis
As Wolves fans, we are biased for including Stan Cullis who often does not get mentioned against the other great managers of the period, when commentators or journalists talk about 1950s football, they all seem to focus on Matt Busby and Manchester United. But Stan Cullis rightly takes his place as one of the greatest English managers.
Stan Cullis was Wolverhampton Wanderers, captaining the side in the late 1930s before the war took his best playing years away from him. Had it not been for the war there might have been two great Wolves teams, Wolves were so often the bridesmaid finishing second twice and losing to second division Portsmouth in the last FA Cup final before the war.
Wolves did not reach their potential until Cullis took over as manager in 1948, in the next 15 years Cullis would lead Wolves to 3 League titles and two FA Cups. Wolves also did not finish outside the top six from 1953 to 1962 finishing runners up twice and missing out on a triple of league titles on goal difference in 1960. Cullis’ s Wolves took part in mid-week club friendlies under the new Molineux Flood Lights playing the best teams from around Europe and the wider world, South Africa, Racing Buenos Aires, Celtic, Spartak Moscow, Budapest Honved all beaten.
After the later of those games Wolves were proclaimed “champions of the world” causing outrage across Europe and leading to the creation of the European Cup. Wolves continued to host friendlies into the late 1950s beating Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Real Madrid who had won the first two European Cups. As well as helping to develop European Football Cullis helped to develop some of England’s best players of the period Billy Wright, Peter Broadbent, Bert Williams, Ron Flowers, and Norman Deeley. Cullis deserves great recognition as one of this country’s finest footballing products.
Sir Alf Ramsey
How could we leave out Sir Alf, the World Cup winning manager and the man who put the Tractor boys Ipswich Town on the map? Some would say he is the greatest English manager by winning the world cup back in 1966 but Sir Alf had a solid record in club management winning the league title with Ipswich Town in 1962.
Ramsey retired from playing aged 35 to become the manager of Ipswich Town, then in the third tier of English football. Ipswich rose through the divisions over the next six years, winning the Third Division South in 1956–57 and the Second Division in 1960–61. In the 1961–62 season, Ipswich’s first ever campaign in the top division, Ramsey’s team defied expectations to become champions of England, a great feet by any standards.
Ramsey took charge of the England team a year later. In a distinct break with common practice of the day, he used a narrow formation that led to his England side being dubbed “The Wingless Wonders”. England’s World Cup victory at Wembley in 66 made Ramsey a national hero, though he had his critics, both at the time and since. He was credited with making Bobby Moore captain in 1964 saying that Bobby was like me “a working class lad from humble beginnings”. England finished 3rd in the European Championships in 1968 beating the Soviet Union in the third-place game. This was our best finish until Gareth Southgate’s side of 2021. His England side lost to Germany in the 1970 world Cup and again in the 1972 European Championships. He lost the England job acrimoniously, following the team’s failure to qualify for the 1974 World Cup. He was poorly treated by the FA in retirement and lived a quiet life until death in 1999.
Howard Kendall
Howard Kendall took charge of Everton in 1981 with the aim of being the ultimate noisy neighbour, in a period of Liverpool dominance. He was successful, winning the league twice in 1985 and 1987 and the FA Cup 1984. In the mid-1980s the dominate City of British Football was Liverpool. Kendall successfully challenged the status quo and made the blue side of Merseyside cheer.
After the Heysel Stadium disaster, English clubs were banned from European competition which meant Everton could not compete in European competition. They did manage to win the European Cup Winners cup in 1985 ahead of the 5-year ban imposed on English clubs. It was definitely a case of what could have been.
Frustrated by the lack of European Football he left for Athletic Bilbao where they finished 4th in La Liga before being dismissed in 1989. He had a brief spell at Man City before returning to Everton for a second spell. They say you should not go back, and this was the case as his second and third spells in charge weren’t as successful. Kendall was the last English manager to win a UEFA Competition with an English Club. His first spell in charge of Everton deserves recognition.
Bob Jackson
When doing research on English managers and looking at periods of success for clubs over the last 90 years or so, we came across Portsmouth who won the League twice and in the late 1940s I thought who was the manager? His name was Robert Jackson known as Bob.
From the bombed-out damage of the Portsmouth in the post war era of rebuilding, he brought joy to the Pompey faithful with back-to-back titles. He also signed one of the first black players to play in the First Division Lindy Delapenha. Delapenha made most of his appearances for Middlesbrough where he scored 90 goals in 260 appearances and played alongside Brian Clough. Jackson was only Pompey manager for 5 years, in 1952 he fell out with the Portsmouth board over a new contract and decided he would join Second division Hull City. Jackson failed to make an impact on the Humber and was sacked in 1955. He left football management disillusioned. Whilst he’s not the most successful on our list, his record deserves recognition.
Brian Clough
Brian Clough’s legend is soaked into football in the East Midlands. His spell managing Derby with assistant Peter Taylor between 1967-73 saw them promoted to the First Division in 1969 and winning the title in 1972. They would go on to make the semi-finals of the European Cup the next season before his relationship with the chairman broke down and he and Taylor left the club. Brief spells at Brighton and Leeds (the later of which was made famous in the film “The Damned United”) he ended up down the A52 as manager of Nottingham Forest in 1975.
Now reunited with Taylor, Clough got them promoted in 1977 and. The following season stormed to the title. After that they went on to win the European Cup in both 1979 and 1980. After Taylor retired in 1982 (only to end up managing Derby a few months later), the magic was lost slightly but Clough stayed as manager until 1993 and won two League Cups at the end of the 80s. He and Taylor never spoke again, famously ignoring each other when Forest played Derby. His outspoken style made him a controversial figure but his teams played with good spirit. While he never managed the national team, his transformation of the two East Midlands clubs into champions warrants his inclusion on this list.
Bobby Robson
One of those who was chosen over Clough was Bobby Robson. His managerial career took off at Ipswich Town, where he managed for 13 years. He often relied on players coming up through the ranks rather than transferring players in. This bred success in the form of winning the Texaco Cup in 1972-72 and the FA Cup in 1981. He turned them into a top six side, finishing as runners up twice and making regular appearances in European football, culminating in them winning the UEFA Cup in 1981.
This success led to him being England manager from 1982. When he failed to qualify for the 1984 Euros, he offered his resignation, only for the FA to reject it as they really didn’t want Clough to take over, so he carried on. He also gave Gary Lineker his England debut at this time. At the 1986 World Cup, England were knocked out by Argentina and Diego Maradona’s Hand of God in the quarter finals which was followed by a group stage exit at the Euros in 1988. However, the world was in motion in 1990 when England famously made the semi-finals before losing on penalties.
During the 1990s, he moved to manage PSV Eindhoven in The Netherlands, winning the league there twice before moving to Portugal to manage Sporting CP. His interpreter was a young Jose Mourinho however he fell out of favour with the chairman and was sacked with the team top of the table. But he was soon snapped up by Porto, bringing Mourinho with him as assistant manager. He also discovered a young Andre Villas-Boas who lived in the same apartment block. Trophies continued with the Portuguese league (twice) and the Portuguese FA Cup.
However he was signed up to manage Barcelona, with Mourinho coming with him. He signed Brazilian Ronaldo and went on to win more trophies. He would return to England in 1999 to manage his boyhood club of Newcastle United. In his second season he led them to fourth, then third, then fifth in the following seasons, with Alan Shearer a key part of that team.
He would be sacked in 2004, when he retired from management. Many of his players viewed him as a father figure and his influence on English football by championing key players and discovering world class talent such as Ronaldo.
Herbert Chapman
Chapman was no doubt one of the games great innovators, being one of the first managers to use tactics whilst managing Northampton Town between 1907-1912. This mainly consisted of a strong defence with counter-attacking wingers who would pass low into the box rather than crossing the ball in. However with Northampton being a non-league team, progress was limited as there wasn’t any automatic promotion to the Football League until 1920.
He took over Leeds City but the outbreak of World War One meant football was suspended and he resigned after the armistice in 1918 as financial irregularities meant the club folded and was refounded as Leeds United.
He moved Huddersfield Town, winning the FA Cup in his first season there before winning the league with them in consecutive years in 1923-4 and 1924-5. In that second season Huddersfield won the league without conceding more than one goal in any match, a remarkable feat.
However in 1925 he would move to Arsenal (who were offering to double his salary). He would go on to win the league twice and the FA Cup once, before his sudden death from pneumonia in 1934. His legacy was secure though as Arsenal continued this success until the outbreak of World War Two, winning five league titles and two FA Cups.
A true trailblazer, there are many other innovations he brought to the sport, including strict training, the use of physios and masseurs, signing one of the first black professional players, Walter Tull, while at Northampton, signing foreign players, advocating for floodlights to be used, using numbered shirts, adding the white trim to Arsenal’s kit (so they could differentiate when playing Liverpool) and hoops to their socks, white footballs and he was even responsible for the renamed of Gillespie Road tube station to Arsenal.
This incredible list of successes shows what a pioneer he was, one cannot help but think what else he would have brought to the game if it wasn’t for his untimely death.
Bill Nicholson
For 36 years, Bill Nicholson managed Tottenham Hotspur. This comes after making 314 appearances as a player between 1938 and 1955. He took over the club in 1958, beating Everton 10-4 in his first match! In 1960-1 he won the first Double of the 20th century and won the FA Cup again the next season and then made Spurs the first British club to win a European trophy by winning the Cup Winner’s Cup.
In 1966-7 he won the FA Cup again along with a series of trophies in the 1970s, with the League Cup in 1969-70, the UEFA Cup the following season and the League Cup again the season after that. However he became disillusioned with football as hooliganism rose throughout the seventies. He resigned in September 1974 after a poor start to the season. He later admitted how burn out he was after managing the club for such a period.
His continued success at Spurs made him a legend at the club, with the road approaching the stadium being renamed in his honour in 1999.
Ron Atkinson
After a successful spell at West Bromwich Albion in the late 1970s (including finishing runners up in the league to Liverpool on goal difference), Ron Atkinson was appointed Manchester United manager in 1981. He poached Bryan Robson from his old club, starting his association with United. He would win the FA Cup with them in 1982-83, showing the Man U were back in the picture after a trophy-less spell under previous manager David Sexton. They would go on to win the FA Cup again in 1984-5 with Mark Hughes a standout player in that team.
After leaving United, he would go on to manage a string of clubs, including League Cup wins at Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa. He would later go on be a TV pundit and star in Celebrity Big Brother and was undoubtedly one of the greatest managers of the 1980s and 1990s.
For the past few months, I’ve taken up a new hobby. It started in the summer when I went to several CONIFA World Cup football matches across several non-league grounds in London. I had a blast watching states and nations which are not officially recognised but getting their chance to play football.
When the summer ended, the football season kicked off and I started attending non-league matches following Haringey Borough FC who had just been promoted to the Bostik Premier Division (or the seventh tier of English football). Why Haringey? Well my housemate became a fan of theirs last season as he was looking for a non-league to follow in North London where we live. I also remembered that my friend Dan had adopted Stafford Rangers as his Non-League team.
So I’ve been attending several home games at Coles Park on White Hart Lane as well as some away days, notably in Margate and Brighton. You might have also seen Boro’s epic cup run which saw them reach the first round of the FA Cup having won 5 qualifying rounds to get there. They then faced AFC Wimbledon on BBC2, a big money spinner for the club, only to lose 1-0 in the last minute.
A record attendance for the FA Cup match against Wimbledon
Since that defeat, they have gone on a 12 league game unbeaten run (at time of writing) and are now top of the division. There’s something special about this club, having just being promoted, the players, the fans, the management, everyone seems to believe that this small club has a bright future.
But I want to focus on how great non-league football is, not just for the fans but also for the wider community and why every football fan should adopt a non-league team.
Firstly, the atmosphere at these grounds is great. Attendance is only a few hundred at best in the seventh tier, but these fans are loyal and come most weeks. They sing their hearts out and have a laugh. Some have been coming for years, some are more recent, but we’re made to feel welcome and you’ll soon be wearing a scarf and singing the songs. There’s a real sense of camaraderie and community spirit which is magnified at the lower levels. Most support bigger clubs, especially Arsenal and Tottenham given Boro is in North London, but that shouldn’t stop football fans enjoying their local non-league team.
It is also the closeness to the team which can make it special. The fans usually stand behind the goal they’re scoring into and have some banter with the opposing goalie. When we score the players celebrate with the fans and they meet with you after the game. Even Haringey’s Chairman is always in with the fans joining in the experience.
Another great thing is the cost. League football can be very expensive if you take into account travel etc. Non-League doesn’t involve huge distances as the divisions are broken down geographically and ticket prices will only be about £10 for adults and around £3/4 for a pint. Haringey even offer free season tickets to get people into the games. These reasonable prices are a great reason to get involved with a local team.
The standard of football at matches is also pretty decent. Many players will have either trained in the academies of the league teams or even played themselves, so the entertainment is usually pretty good and there is always an opportunity for plenty of goals and drama.
Extra fans are also crucial for the survival of small teams. There is the ever imposing threat of clubs going under or their grounds being sold to property developers, as the recently resolved issue with Dulwich Hamlet FC demonstrates. The income they bring is vital to keeping clubs going and without their support, many wouldn’t survive.
I’d recommend using the brilliant Groundhopper app on your phone to help pick a club. It will tell you when and where the nearest games are. (This app is also great for tracking every game and ground you’ve ever been to).
So, if your team is playing away one Saturday, or you’re at a loose end, check out what local non-league teams are around you and head down! There is even an official Non-League Day every October.
(FYI I’ve been drafting this for sometime, but tonight’s sacking of Claudio Ranieri has given me a push to get this published!)
One of the things that I find most annoying is the seemingly endless situation where football managers are sacked after a short space of time, only to be replaced by another who will themselves only last a few months.
Many clubs these days are owned by the super-rich. And while that can be a good thing, it also means that the clubs are under more and more pressure to perform.
The dream of these billionaires is for the club to be in the Premier League fighting it out with the best. There’s a good squad of players, and a decent manager who knows them. They invest several million into the team, bring in some good players and the owners have high hopes for the season ahead.
But here’s the reality, the club is only as good as the team, and despite the sometimes impressive history, it’s very difficult to progress. It takes time for a bunch of strangers to build a team and gel, as such their performances might not match their anticipated ability on paper.
Add to this the growth of social media. Previously, the only way to vent your feelings on the game was to call the radio phone-ins or down the pub. Nowadays, you can tweet and Facebook your frustration, meaning that clubs have a better idea of what the fans are thinking, which when the club is on a bad run, the pressure increases.
As such, the blame for the performances on the pitch falls on the manager, who is sacked mid-season.
Here’s the problem though, this is a massive gamble. In changing the manager, you remove the lynch pin which keeps it all together. A good manager will encourage and motivate the team, they also know the players, their strengths and weaknesses and how to get the best out of them.
By changing manager, the club effectively bins all of the good work and begin again. And if the new guy doesn’t work, they often get sacked as well until the team ends up having a bad season and gets relegated.
This music chairs of managers has a negative effect on the game. The sacking of coaches from clubs after a few defeats in a row is unrealistic. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The sacking of great mangers like Ranieri (who won the Premier League!!!) is a huge mistake and Leicester aren’t likely to get anywhere by removing him.
I will admit that sometimes changing the manager can work, Maro Silva at Hull is a good example, but more often than not it ends in disaster. As a Wolves fan, I’ve been there. Getting rid of Mick McCarthy in 2012 was a disaster which saw us get relegated twice and have 3 managers in the space of a year.
At the end of the day, the expectations of the owners are too high. In my opinion, the best things to do would be to stick with the manager until the end of the season and then assess their performance. The knee-jerk reaction of sacking the gaffer is often the worst thing to do. Just like with any situation in life, the worst thing to do at a time of crisis, is to panic.
James Potts 