Slaven Bilić takes charge of his first competitive game as West Brom boss this weekend. The Croatian has become a bit of a legend after pictures surfaced of the 50-year-old rocking out on the rhythm guitar with his band, ‘Rawbau’.
Below we take a look at Slaven’s band and four other footballing personalities who’ve ventured into music.
Slaven Bilić
Citing Metallica, AC/DC and Aerosmith as their influences, Croatian metal group Rawbau are a band that can boast former West Ham, Beşiktaş and Croatia manager Slaven Bilić among their ranks on rhythm guitar.
Rawbau even recorded the anthem for Croatia’s Euro 2008 campaign, where Bilić led his nation to the quarter-finals.
Djibril Cissé
Back in 2017, former Liverpool and France striker DJ-ibril (geddit?) Cissé announced his retirement from football at the age of 35 to focus on his career as a disk jockey and producer.
Speaking to Yahoo! Sport, that same year, Cissé said, “I loved being a footballer, and so far the ball has been my life. I would have liked to continue playing but I must admit today that football is over. With the same passion, I will devote myself wholeheartedly to my career as DJ, producer and consultant.”
Clint Dempsey
Regarded as one of the finest North American footballers of all-time, the former Fulham and Spurs forward is alongside Landon Donovan as the US Men’s team’s all-time top scorer. But did you know he also performs as a rapper called Deuce? And that he’s not actually all that bad?
Back in 2006, working alongside Nike to create hype for the upcoming World Cup, Dempsey, or Deuce in this case, released a rap video Don’t Tread rapping alongside Houston hip-hop legends, Big Hawk and XO. You can check it out below:
John Barnes
An icon of rap.
We’re cheating a bit here as John Barnes is clearly not a member of New Order, but his verse at the end of the 1990 classic “World In Motion” are some of the best bars ever spat in hip-hop history.
Roll on Euro 2020 when the song will undoubtedly be played everyday, multiple times, until England are knocked out and then the song is left to hibernate for another two years. Rinse and repeat.
Andy Cole
“Andy Cole, break it dowwwn!”
One of the deadliest strikers to grace the Premier League, Andy Cole gave defenders nightmares right through the 1990s but his venture into hip-hop is even more terrifying.
In 1999, the same year as he won the treble with Manchester United, Andy Cole - later rebranded as Andrew Cole - released the single ‘Outstanding’ - originally performed by The Gap Band, it was far from it. Produced by DJ Pied Piper, the track peaked at a miserable 68 in the charts.