NOT every player would agree, but Marlon Harewood is the
self-proclaimed king of the Upton Park music scene.
An Usher fan and part-time DJ, Marlon is responsible for selecting
the pre-match tunes in the West Ham United dressing room. Although,
he admits that his choices are not universally popular.
"There are some different tastes among the lads,"
admitted the former Nottingham Forest striker. "Generally I
put together the music for the dressing room, something to get the
lads in the mood before a game. Recently it's been Usher. His
Confessions album has a mixture of upbeat and chilled-out tracks.
"There are a few of the lads who like different stuff to me,
but I try and mix it up a bit. I draw the line at some of the
requests, but we try and make it as varied as possible.
"Some of the older lads moan about the music I play, but they
never bring in anything different so they can't really have any
complaints.
"Music is a big hobby of mine. I love playing football but
away from the pitch it's good to have something else to get
involved in.
"Usher is probably my favourite artist at the moment, but of
all-time it's got to be Michael Jackson. He changed the way we
look at music.
"I've always been really in to my music and a few of the
other lads like similar stuff to me. That's why I started
organising the music for the dressing-room. It goes down pretty
well, although it's five games since we won now, so I might
have to change it up a bit for the Wigan game."
Music King Marlon
31st March 2005