Madness drummer Daniel ‘Woody’ Woodgate and his younger brother Nick are set to release The Magic Line, their debut album as Magic Brothers – for more about that, check out our interview with Woody on sister site Rocksucker.
We also asked Woody about current goings-on pertaining to his beloved Chelsea, although we should point out that our chat took place before their 2-1 Champions League defeat at home to Basel on Wednesday night.
First, though, check out the first song from the album to be made available, the utterly majestic “You Don’t Have to Hide Your Love Away”…
Wayne Rooney’s irritation in his post-match interview the other night seemed to suggest that thoughts of Chelsea linger in his mind. Would you go all out for him in January?
I’m not it did, really. He was just saying he was very happy at Manchester United, I don’t know. Of course he’s a wonderful footballer, but I’m not so sure we’ll get him.
I’ll stay out of it. If Rooney comes to Chelsea, he’ll be a Chelsea player and I’ll love him, but at the moment he’s a Manchester United player so no comment! (Laughs)
Does it confuse or frustrate you to see Daniel Sturridge and Romelu Lukaku at Liverpool and Everton respectively?
It didn’t surprise me that Sturridge went because I think he thrives on being a big fish in a small pond.
It’s very unfair on such a talented footballer for him to try to desperately impress whenever he got a game because he didn’t get many. That’s just the way it is at Chelsea because we’ve got so many big stars.
I think it was sensible to let him go – he was making some really bad errors and being a bit selfish. He was really out for himself, I think.
Most people were frustrated because he had the talent but his decision-making wasn’t particularly good. You make a few mistakes at Chelsea and you don’t come back.
Lukaku’s another matter, as opposed to another Mata! I think we could do with a great big lump up front at times so it is frustrating seeing him go. He’s great at bullying defences.
But then he might not fit in with the lovely, free-flowing football that’s coming our way with Mata, Hazard and Oscar. Ramires and Lampard in the middle too, I mean that’s just incredible.
Torres is actually doing alright. You ignore him at your peril. Eto’o probably has to find his feet. We had chances at Everton the other day but the goalkeeper played out of his skin.
It’s frustrating because as Chelsea fans we were going “what the hell was that team he put out?”, which is often the way with José Mourinho. I think he thinks too much, tries to be too clever.
But we love him because he loves Chelsea. You can’t knock it, he can’t do any wrong. It was the same with Di Matteo. For all his faults, you can’t knock someone who has a passion for Chelsea Football Club. As a fan, you can’t help but love them.
By the end of last season, had a part of you come round to Rafael Benítez?
Er, no! (Laughs) He’s a football manager and he did a football manager’s job. I don’t like his disassociation or lack of passion for the team. He’s very matter of fact, and good on him.
I’m not mad on the man but he’s a very good manager, although I do think he gets credited far too much for winning the Champions League with Liverpool, when in fact it was Houllier’s side.
I just don’t like his lack of passion and lack of connection with the club. It’s a bit soulless, really.
Finally, predict this season’s top four, in order!
Being a Londoner, I’d really like to see Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham as the top three, obviously with Chelsea in first place.
I can see Manchester City taking their eye off the ball in pursuit of the Champions League, so I reckon it’ll be: Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and then either City or Tottenham.
There you go, that’s my prediction, and I’m always wrong!
Woody, thank you.
The Magic Line will be released on September 30th through DWR.