Mix it up a wee bit, my editor said. So I got to 4th May, and I noted that on his day in 1966, the great Peter Shilton made the first of his record 1,005 football league appearances when he stepped up between the sticks for Leicester City (whatever happened to them?) against Everton.
That would normally be the cue to spin headlong into a list of the best goalkeepers of all time or the worst goalkeeper of all time or the Top 10 goalkeepers most likely to have owned Vauxhall Cavaliers at some point in their lives, etc, etc.
Instead, for no overriding reason, here’s five fascinating and lesser-known musical facts featuring some of those mad buggers betwixt the sticks…
Indie band Saint Etienne, whose name of course betrays something of a footballing bent itself, once released an album called “What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?” – former goalkeeper with West Ham, Leyton Orient and Leeds.
It was the soundtrack to a film about the redevelopment of the Lea Valley. Obviously.
Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton once recorded a duet version of “Side By Side” to mark England’s 1980 European Championships appearance. You are strongly advised not to search it out.
Just kidding. Here it is.
After Gazza’s sumptuous free-kick in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final, Spurs-supporting indie stars Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, Miki Berenyi and Chris Acland from Lush and Kevin McKillop and Russell Yates from Moose formed The Lillies and recorded the track “And David Seaman Will Be Very Disappointed About That” for a flexi-disc given away with Spurs fanzine The Spur.
Marcus Hahnemann, the soul-patched ‘keeper once of former Reading. Wolves and USA fame, performed on stage with Tenacious D at the Reading Festival and in 2012 cut a track with thrash metal outfit Malefice called “Omega“.
What have goalkeepers Luis Arconada, Joel Bats, Joseph-Antoine Bell, George Farm, Brad Friedel, Peter Grummit, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Mart Poom, Bob Wilson, Lev Yashin, Dino Zoff and Andoni Zubizaretta got in common? They have, of course, all been mentioned in songs by the legendary Half Man Half Biscuit.
If you’re not already familiar, make yourself familiar.
You can follow Martin Cloake on Twitter at @MartinCloake and find more about his books and writing at www.martincloake.com