Elvis in Swansea: You'll Never Walk Alone

When the bookies profane the King's name it's bad enough, but when it's at the expense of the pride of South Wales, that's just asking for trouble.

Brendan Rodgers, manager of Swansea Town FC (the Swans), quite reasonable took exception to the claim by certain bookmakers that punters had more chance of seeing Elvis than Swansea did of staying in the Premiership. Facing Liverpool in their last match of the season, already in the clear to stay up, Rodgers asked fans to don Elvis costumes in celebration and in an effort to harness the strange and mighty power of Elvis' love. Fans took it seriously, and Swansea faced a shortage of Elvis costumes. Said Carol Guy of Swansea's Mardi Gras Fancy Dress shop to the South Wales Post,

"There were people waiting for me to open up this morning, and I wasn’t able to have my morning coffee until midday."

Swansea City's website met the demand by offering a cut out Elvis mask to download (eerily reminiscent of the Forbes Dead Rich list Hallowe'en death mask). And while Carol Guy suggested Brendan himself ought to dress up, Wales Online went one better and offered a Brendan Rodgers Elvis mask to celebrate Swansea's mid-table non-obscurity after the club managed to defeat Liverpool 2-0.

 
The Liberty Stadium filled up with multiple Elvii of all persuasions, Dean Mack, Elvis ETA (we've had him before in Bundoran remember?), sang The Wonder of You, and with that kind of home support, the erstwhile Merseyside anthem, You'll Never Walk Alone belonged to Swansea that day.

If I Can Dream (part II): El Tel off key but not as off key as England

It's the Sun what won it
Is no doubt what we would have been hearing had England been a bit more glorious in the last couple of weeks. That esteemed organ is behind the rather marvelous idea of putting the England football team's (semi-finals of Euro '96) most enigmatic, most wheeler-dealer manager, Terry Venables, in front of an orchaestra to 'croon' Big E's middle-aged-man-and-football song (see earlier post).

In the video (a one minute ad for the Sun) Big El Tel walks out of the shadows swankily clad in an Englandy grey suit. Deep in his heart, there's a trembling question.... Terry is positively beatific, because out there in the dark - he thrusts a 'go on my son' arm forward into the dark and lo! - is the Royal Philharmonic Orchaestra backing him up. And it's not just them, while he can think, while he can talk, while he can (very Dagenham) stand, while he can walk, camera pans across the choir of young female lovelies and middle-aged round-toned male lovelies, and oh, isn't that Ian Wright winking, and isn't that 'Arry Redknap chirping away? And aren't they in Wembley Stadium?

Although the Guardian website uses Tel's efforts to suggest that all singing-for-England should be put to bed, you have to hand it to Terry, he's got a lovely gravel-road voice, and who better to create positive waves with which to inspire Three Lion-ness into the likes of Rooney and Lamps? It might have been kinder to give him an easier key to belt out his final dream but we all have to suspend a bit of disbelief and have a little dream for the sake of England vs Slovenia tonight. See Terry rather charmingly learning to sing here.

Pics: The Sun
Thanks: Emma