ROD'S FOOTBALL PASSION

DAVID DHL REFLECTS ON LEGENDARY SINGER ROD STEWART'S LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL GAME AND GETS TO THE HEART OF HIS BRENTFORD FOOTBALL PAST

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IT IS well known that at the first Glastonbury Festival it cost just one pound to get in to enjoy the top range of music on offer, free camping and all the milk you can drink.

This year, it has certainly cost the fans a lot more than that - and the offer of milk is no longer there!

However, one musician who will be performing at Worthy Farm this June is the 80year-old star Sir Rod Stewart, who has been at the top of his business for over 60 years and sold around 250 million albums and singles worldwide.

Rod the Mod will be playing the Sunday teatime legends slot. He last performed on the Glasto Pyramid Stage in 2002.

From this evidence, it would seem that Stewart definitely made the right decision in pursuing a career in pop music rather than his original plan to become a professional footballer.

His family loved football. His father, Robert, a Hibernian fan and brothers played for amateur teams but he was the most talented in the family. The boys supported Glasgow Celtic, with Robert and his four siblings originating from Scotland. Being born in north London to Elsie, his English mother, Rod supported Arsenal when he was growing up.

For many years there was a legend going round that Sir Rod had been a professional footballer for Brentford, but I think it is now time to actually clarify what happened in his football career, what was true and what was fiction.

It is accurate to say that he had ambitions to play for the Bees back in the 1960s, before music fame and fortune came his way. It has often been reported that Rod signed as an apprentice professional in 1960 for Brentford when he was 15.