There’s lots to moan about in modern football, from VAR to PSR, via proposed European Super Leagues and half-and-half scarves.
But perhaps the biggest crime on the contemporary football landscape is the lack of football teams going into the recording studio and producing cup final or tournament songs, as the days of the Anfield Rap and World In Motion are long gone.
Liverpool and Newcastle United are the latest teams to make it to Wembley for the Carabao Cup final and both have snubbed the chance to make a dent on the Top 40.
Neil Ruddock tells FourFourTwo about Liverpool’s appearance in the recording studio
Liverpool especially have a rich history in chart-bothering ditties, with the aforementioned Anfield Rap reaching No.3 ahead of their 1988 FA Cup final defeat to Wimbledon, while they warmed up for their 1996 FA Cup final loss to Manchester United by finding time to record Pass & Move (It’s the Liverpool Groove), which reached No.4 in the charts.
A free bar was key in the Reds squad performance in the studio, with Neil Ruddock recalling the session to FourFourTwo.
“The manager let us have a day out on the drink and we recorded it in the same Liverpool studio that the Beatles used – we really let that studio down, didn’t we?” Ruddock jokes.
Just as he did in Anfield Rap and World In Motion, John Barnes – who is ranked at No.5 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest-ever Liverpool players – took a leading role.
“He got there early because he wouldn’t rap in front of us,” smiles Ruddock
“I remember my line in the song was, ‘You get cut… playing with the Razor’,” he adds. “Then we sung, ‘Go Robbie, go Robbie, go!’ Robbie and Stevie Mac were worse than me, though – disgusting voices. They would have got a buzzer straight away from Simon Cowell!
“There was a bar in this place and we all had a few too many, drinking, singing and dancing – great memories, even though we lost the final.
“I got dropped for the final. Sorry, I got ‘rested’, didn’t I? I did *not* get dropped! There was a big season coming up…”
