"Well, you don't know where you're going now, but you know you won't be back"

My word, its been a strange week or so. It all started with a letter. After the bank holiday (most of which I spent doing my best impression of the drunkest man alive..apologies to all those harmed in the making of that), I received a call from my good friend Shaun saying that I should send a copy of 'From Heathens to Devils' to Jonathan Rigby. "He's the head of marketing at United, I've got his address". So I did. With the CD, I included a carefully worded letter, explaining my years as a season ticket holder, the United theme behind the EP and also if it would be possible to have a song from it played at Old Trafford during Sundays game against Swansea. With 1st class post, I'm guessing he received this on Wednesday…the day that Alexander Chapman Ferguson decided to announce his retirement from Manchester United Football Club after close to 27 years of service. So I put it to the back of my mind whilst I took in the news: on Wednesday night I was asked to be part of a United fans forum on BBC Radio 5 Live with a handful of other reds and a panel of former MUFC players including Robbie Savage, Dion Dublin and Paddy Crerand. If you aren't into football (or support Liverpool, Leeds or City) you may think its a bit strange of me to say this, but I really was consumed by Ferguson's retirement to the point where I genuinely couldn't think about anything other than Jose/Moyes, and then Moyes/Jose before reaching the stage I arrived at on Friday morning…Moyes. Then I got a message from my mate Paul, telling me to check my twitter. It was a link to an article on the Daily Telegraph's website about "Sir Alex's Farewell playlist". I had a quick scan up and down the list..some great songs, some appropriate songs..Stone Roses, Iggy Pop, The Impossible Dream…Some Facts…hang on, what?!?! There it was, at the bottom of the list, the song the players would walk on for the second half to…Sam Smith & Company - Some Facts. But it wasn't to be, more on that later. 

So, in line with that, Tommy has been helping us build our United following. Through his ties with Red Issue, he managed to get us a full page ad in the latest issue, the last one of the season and the Ferguson special. As its on the back page, its hard to get a picture of it and say "Look!!! here is and advert for the band in the United fanzine I grew up reading", so here are 2 together. If you have bought the mag today, have a look. If not, pick one up in Aleef's newsagents in town or on Sunday at West Brom (if you are lucky enough to have a ticket…any spares?). Also, Tommy has been booking gigs for us recently, which is a god send as it takes the load off me for a change. Last night (Saturday May 11th 2013) we played at The Robin Hood in Stretford, for too long…staying with the United theme, "if I hadnt seen such riches I could live with being poor" and thats all I'm gonna say about that. We recorded both audio and video for this gig it so I may put something up on YouTube later. We will see. 

But back to being on Ferguson's Farewell Playlist. After the Telegraph incident, we obviously announced it via social media and everything blew up. We had tons of interactions on both our Facebook page and Twitter, but on a more personal note, the amount of well wishes I received via text, email, Facebook message and on various United forums was truly overwhelming. People telling me how much I deserved it, how proud of me they were, how my hard work was finally paying off and of course, the obligatory "don't forget me, when you're famous" jokes. It was a nice reminder of how many real friends I have which was incredible in itself so, thank you! But it didn't happen in the end and again, we will come back to that. 

On Friday night, theguardian.co.uk published an article entitled "From the Soup Dragons to Sinatra: Sir Alex Ferguson's farewell playlist". It was a lovely, short piece that explored the psychology behind the song choices and how they related to the career of the great man. Much to my surprise, the reason behind the title of 'Some Facts' had been picked up on! I won't quote it on here, I will let you read it for yourselves on the image below. The most amazing thing here is that the newspaper I read were quoting my lyrics. I couldn't believe it. Even if it was just online and not in print, it was still an amazing accolade and I was having it! But then on Saturday morning, it turns out it was in print! After another influx of confusing messages (mainly via Facebook), I nipped to the shop, bought The Grundian, and yes, there we were. The picture is below, have a look. I still can't stop looking at it. A Bitter Sweet Symphony awaits...indeed.

I've gone a bit Pulp Fiction here with my timeline, I hope you have managed to stay focussed. Anyway, it was Saturday morning/early afternoon, but as we have already covered Saturday night (however briefly), lets fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I had to catch up on Coronation Street before going to the game. I'd missed it on Friday because of the Old Trafford/Guardian fanfare and I was far too busy laughing at Manchester City on Saturday to watch it so it had to be done here. Breif corrie window before shower, then head to game with Shaun. The whole thing was a bit strange though to be honest. My emotions were all over the place. Was upset about it being Ferguson's last ever game, but was also over the moon that 'Some Facts' was gonna be played. Pre game stop at Nando's in Fallowfield to calm the nerves (Shaun ordered 'the menu' as he often does) and whilst we were there, I got a tweet of good will from a friend of ours, boxer Anthony Crolla, the current English Lightweight Champion, who will no doubt get a world title shot in the next couple of years. He's has sat with us in K Stand Top Left a couple of times this season and its been great fun watching him get constantly harassed for pictures by Welsh Darren and insulted by our mate Phil during the derby. We sit close to the away end and when Phil found out that Anthony was a boxer he shouted over to the City fans "One of our lads against one of your lads…this is ours" and pointed at Crolla. Brilliant. Walking up to the ground, I picked up a Red Issue from our bass player Tommy, who was stood in his usual place at the top of Sir Matt Busby Way with an encouragingly small number of mags left. The gospel according to SSAC was spreading nicely via Red Issue it would seem. 

And now I am inside Old Trafford, waving flags. The first half was a bit of a blur (or at least it is now as this is a long blog post and I'm on the Artios). I nipped down to the concourse (passing our EP cover of course) for my usual crafty fag on 35 mins. I dived into my usual smoking cubicle and remembered that I don't smoke anymore! Auto pilot, ah well, I bought a beer instead. As I was down early, I decided to hang around until half time. I chatted to my biographer Carlo and my old friend Gedward before heading back upstairs to my seat for my moment in the sun, wondering why I couldn't find Kev. Passed the EP cover for the millionth time, caught the end of Good Times by The Rubys (their album is incredible by the way, get on it!), then Mutineers came on. This was it, it was gonna happen. Phase 1 of my 'build a following around Manchester United Football Club' plan was about to take place. I looked down, Shaun was reading the Scholes article on the back page of Red Issue and on the right was our ad…it was about to happen! Then Alan Keegan said "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Swansea City and Manchester United". Customary applause, the music stops and I realised that it wasn't going to happen. They ran out of time. I was gutted at first, and I still am to be honest but I got some great words of comfort from the right people and its all good. We are certain to get played next season as we now have ties with the club, not to mention the staggering amount of exposure and press we received this weekend. Lyrics in The Guardian!!! Was still feeling a bit dejected but when I got in, I received an email from BBC Introducing staying that they had finally listened to our EP! About bloody time! Lets hope that it leads to some airplay soon and we can build on some more positives.

So yeah, thats what's happened since my last blog post. I've been very drunk, i've been on BBC Radio 5 Live in a non musical context, been upset over Ferguson, had my lyrics quoted in The Guardian for being on Ferguson's farewell playlist and i've not had my song played at Old Trafford. 6 Rollercoaster days, after which I am forced to draw inspiration for my closing statement from Manchester United themselves. People often say that United are "Hated. Adored. Never Ignored". Well tonight I am "Hated, Adored…Sometimes Ignored (by MUFC If they are short on time due to Sky Sports)"

One Love. Good Night