Example On Fulham And John Terry

So you love Fulham?
I love Fulham and I love music. I probably love Fulham a little more than music, if I’m honest. They’re a great team to support because pretty much nobody dislikes Fulham – in fact, they seem to be a lot of people’s second-favourite club. The main thing is that they’re not really that offensive. They don’t have an offensive or annoying manager – Martin Jol is very honest, gracious in defeat and not too big-headed when we win. He also has a phenomenal accent. And who doesn’t love a phenomenal accent?

Do you ever get people saying they hate Fulham?
People occasionally say they’re rubbish and they’re not going to win anything, but how is that going to upset Fulham fans? I have about 1.5m Twitter followers and I get thousands and thousands of nice comments. But if I tweet something about Fulham, I always get some banter in return about supporting a rubbish team. But it’s nowhere near the level of hatred I would get if I supported United, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea. Let’s face it, John Terry’s enough to make people hate Chelsea for the next 100 years. He’s a disgusting rat of a man. I have a Chelsea-supporting mate and I asked him if anyone at Chelsea like JT? He says nobody likes him but they support him because he’s theirs.

Do you pinch yourself when you see Dimitar Berbatov in a Fulham shirt?
You do, but as a Fulham fan we’re used to ‘pinch yourself’ signings. I think it was crazier ten years ago when we had John Collins, or when we had Kevin Keegan as manager in the second division. When you have Al Fayed as chairman, nothing surprises you…

I was there the day Michael Jackson was there…
So was I! I missed the announcement that it was Michael Jackson so all I saw was this weird, frail-looking, scary child-catcher walking around the pitch. I got home and my mum went ‘I hear Michael Jackson was there’. I shouldn’t have been surprised because Al Fayed knows some of the world’s most famous and strangest people. I would rather remember MJ from the 70s and not as the creepy statue outside Craven Cottage. If the chairman likes the statue that much, he should have it in his own home!

You must have been worried when Dempsey and Dembele left in the summer…
Totally. I was really upset about Dempsey leaving because I knew the guy and I know how much he loved Fulham. I texted him over the summer when I was on the festival circuit and he was deciding what to do with his future and I was like ‘look mate, I’d love you to stay’ but I knew he had lots of options and I respect his decision because I know he has no ill-feeling towards Fulham fans. I would have been a bit sour if he’d joined Chelsea, mind. I know that initially he didn’t want to go to another London club but you can’t always choose who you join on transfer deadline day. I’ve spoken to him a few times since his move – he texted to congratulate me on the single and offered me some tickets to White Hart Lane – and we’ll still be friends. He’s a down-to-earth bloke who’s not all about flash cars like some footballers.

You look full of goals even without them though…
Yes – even Bairdinho has scored twice! Goals could potentially come from anywhere. We know all about the class of Berbatov and an in-form Hugo Rodallega but then we have players on the fringes like Bryan Ruiz and Mladen Petric and a load of youngsters who we don’t know that much about. If we finished seventh, I’d be happy and not too surprised.
This November will see the release of Example’s fourth album ‘The Evolution of Man’ which has already spawned a No.2 smash hit with its debut single ‘Say Nothing’ http://www.trythisforexample.com