Keep right on

The reason for anthems becoming attached to particular football teams can be obscure. There is no doubt about Liverpool's adoption of "You'll never walk alone": scouser Gerry Marsden had a Top Ten hit with the song from "Carousel" shortly after the Red Men rose from the old second division under Bill Shankly and climbed to greater heights. (Rodgers hated both the Gerry And The Pacemakers treatment and it becoming a football anthem, by the way.)  "Bubbles" link to West Ham United goes back further and involves the nickname of a 1920s player, a crowd favourite. But why "Keep right on to the end of the road" and Birmingham City?

It turns out that this connection goes back only to 1956 and City's big FA Cup run that year. The Birmingham Mail records:
Blues were on their way to Leyton Orient in the fourth round of the FA Cup and manager Arthur Turner got the squad to sing the anthem as a pre-match ritual to calm the nerves before a big game. Birmingham City legend Alex Govan, a winger who played for Blues during the 1950’s, introduced the team to Lauder’s famous song as the club went on to reach the FA Cup final in 1956.

The song was written by William Dillon and the great Scottish comedian, inspired by a tragedy in the Lauder family. His son had been killed in action during the Great War. There will probably continue to be arguments as to whether he or Will Fyffe best represented the Scots and Scottish humour, but Lauder should be given his due on the 150th anniversary of his birth.