I thought Radiohead’s position on football was clear in light of Stanley Donwood’s (very) short story Sky Sports which featured in the Scotch Mist webcast:

One day I found out that my urine was acting like a powerful foaming agent. I thought that I could take advantage of my ability by hosting piss-scented foam parties in the pub toilets, but the landlord wasn't keen. He didn't think that people would be interested. In fact, he said that it was a disgusting idea. I said I'd rather go to a piss foam party than watch the fucking football, but he said that I'm in a very small minority and the big screen stays.

So it was a big surprise to me to find in an interview that Ed O’Brien is a Manchester United fan:

Ed O'Brien is a happy man this Thursday lunchtime. Not only did Radiohead play two fairly flawless shows for the BBC yesterday but his beloved Manchester United beat Roma 2-0 in the Champions League at the Stadio Olimpico. "The football was better than the gig," he beams. Being Oxford-born and now resident in north London, Ed clearly fits the description of the Man U fan to a tee but at least he went to Manchester University. He still knows "a few boys" at Old Trafford who get him tickets, and is concerned that Mani of The Stone Roses/Primal Scream has defected to the breakaway anti-Glazer team AFC Manchester. […]

When we made our first record, Sean and Paul [producers Slade and Kolderie] said I was sort of like the keyboard player. I took great offence at the time but now I realise it's kind of true. I see myself as a bit of a sweeper – bit of rhythm, can play up front or in the hole. I'm not a Ronaldo or a Rooney: that's Thom and Jonny. But in my dreams I'm a Paul Scholes."

Surely this isn’t for real! And yet now the cryptic title ,Ed Becks McLaren’ that appeared above a photo of Ed with a newspaper that appeared in January on Dead Air Space makes sense.

Perhaps I shall attempt to source and forward to Ed one of the Manchester United shirts overprinted with torture victims from Abu Ghraib prison that I saw at the pinko screenprinters on Sydney Road a couple of years ago!