Football Burp was recently lucky enough to get to speak to speak to songwriting genius and former The Icicle Works front man Ian McNabb, whose brand new studio album Little Episodes is now available for pre-order on his official website. As Ian hails from the football-obsessed environs of Liverpool, we couldn’t help but ask which side of Stanley Park his heart lies…
Are you a keen Red or Blue?
I used to be a season ticket holder for Liverpool back in the ‘80s – I’ve got an addictive personality and I just became so obsessed with it. I’d go into a funk for a week if we lost a game, and I was like, “Hang on, it’s not like you’ve got a vested interest in the club.” So I pulled back from it a little bit and these days I’m not too bothered. I’m not particularly enamoured with the behaviour of footballers – I think they get paid too much money and don’t deliver – but obviously I’ll stick my hand up and say, “I’m a Red.”
A lot of people are starting to feel quite disillusioned with the way the game’s headed and how their clubs are run…
They don’t care about us, the money goes up and the players don’t always perform that great. I always say that if I pay fifty quid for a ticket to see a big gig by a big artist, and they do a bit of a shit gig, then I won’t go to see them again. But with football, every week teams don’t play particularly brilliantly, especially some of the more overpaid Premier League players, they play shit and yet everyone pays £45 to watch them again two weeks later. It’s not a very good deal that, is it?
“Liverpool Girl”
Do you remember the first match you went to?
D’you know what, I’m not going to be able to remember because I haven’t been to a match in fifteen years. I went with Ian Broudie – I can’t remember who we were playing but the match was so boring that we just talked all the way through it. I’m not really a football type anymore.
Ian McNabb, thank you.
Little Episodes, the new album by Ian McNabb, is now available for pre-order on his official website. He will also be touring the UK across February – click here for a list of live dates.