Christie's World Cup songs verdict

By Chris Charles

Christie squares up to the Crazy Frog

Tony Christie is looking forward to a battle royal with his World Cup song rivals as the race for the number one spot hots up.

The middle-aged crooner put down a marker by entering the charts at number 11 this week with Is This The Way To The World Cup?

The song, a reworking of last year's best-selling single Amarillo, was released a week earlier than most of its competitors, but is tipped to climb the charts ahead of England's opening match with Paraguay on Saturday.

Christie told BBC Sport: "I am very happy with the song. It's got a nice summery feel about it and people seem to like it. The original was a big hit on the terraces before the World Cup and it seemed a natural progression to me.

"I'll be watching the World Cup at home on the television but I hope to be in my local for the England games. You get more atmosphere in there and I can leave my wife at home watching Emmerdale!"

Christie, who spent seven weeks at number one with Amarillo last year, admitted the competition with all the other World Cup songs was "good fun". You can read his verdict on the main players below.

---

EMBRACE - WORLD AT YOUR FEET
I can't see any way that the crowds will be singing this on the terraces. There's nothing for them to hang on to. It's not a bad song but it's too complicated to be a football anthem - not very rousing.

---

SHAM 69 - HURRY UP ENGLAND
This is going to be one of the main contenders and is being released a week after most of the other songs. I remember it the first time around back in the 70s. Punk is not really my cup of tea but this is definitely one people will be singing along to.

---

TONEDEF ALLSTARS - WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE KIDDING JURGEN KLINSMANN?
I've seen the video which is very good, but it's a bit un-pc. The original song had the lyric 'Mr Hitler' and to change it to Jurgen Klinsmann...I'm not sure that's wise. I would steer clear of it personally.

---

CRAZY FROG - WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
Using the Queen song was a clever idea - it's been sung on the terraces of practically every football club in the world. The Frog is bound to irritate a few people but it's one of those tunes you can't get out of your head.

---

JOE FAGIN - THAT'S ENGLAND ALL RIGHT
This was originally the theme from Auf Wiederhesen Pet - That's Living All Right - which is a song I love. Most people will know the song - it's quite catchy and could do well.

---

THE HAMILTONS - ENGLAND ARE JOLLY DEE
I heard a little snatch of this one from Neil and Christine Hamilton the other day - hmmm. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

---

STAN BOARDMAN - AYE AYE IPPY THE GERMANS BOMBED OUR CHIPPY
Oh dear! It's not really a football song just a vehicle for Stan and his German 'jokes'.