🎵 OneFootball x Starsailor: Superb summer can keep Liverpool on top | OneFootball

As part of OneFootball's collaboration series with Shoot Music we're interviewing an artist every week about their love of football.

This week it's Liverpool fan and Starsailor frontman James Walsh.

When did you start supporting Liverpool and why?

I decided Liverpool were my favourite team following in my older brother Andrew’s footsteps at the age of eight, but went to my first game and started really understanding it all around 11 when Liverpool played Blackburn in the FA Cup just down the road from where I grew up in Chorley. I remember being over the moon to receive tickets for Liverpool v Sheffield United Christmas 1992.

Everyone in our school supported Liverpool or Manchester United mainly. There were a few Bolton,Wigan and Preston fans but not many. My belief that you should stick with the team you supported as a kid outweighs any guilt of being a ‘glory hunter’ ha ha.

Do you think Liverpool can retain the title this season?

Yes but I’m not over confident. Retaining the title is extremely hard & the teams around have all strengthened. There’s a lot of new players to bed in too.

A great Champions League run would be amazing and arguably more important. Arne Slot has nothing to prove to the Premier League now but it would be great to see him show his worth at the top table.

What are your thoughts on Liverpool's transfer business this summer?

Superb. Ekitike has really hit the ground running in particular. Wirtz's quality will shine through, Kerkez has a tricky job because Andy Robertson has been so fantastic in that position but I’m sure over time he’ll make it his own and in the meantime it’s great to have two fantastic options depending on the opposition. I understand Newcastle fans dismay at how Isak left the club - I’d feel exactly the same, but he’s a Liverpool player now and the sort of player who has been missing on occasion.

Do you think that extra firepower could help Liverpool win the Champions League too?

I really hope so. There was no shame in running the eventual winners PSG so close as it turned out in the end but it hurt to go out so early. Would love to see a run to the Semi-Final or Final and to win it & get to lucky number seven would be a dream come true.

Can you tell us about your new record 'Starsailor with Strings – Live from Liverpool’...

We wanted to do something special with it being our 25th anniversary so we thought it would be a good idea to reimagine some of our back catalogue with strings. Joe Duddell did an amazing job putting string arrangements together for a big charity concert in aid of the Trussell Trust featuring an array of bands like us, James & Slow Readers Club that Jamie Carragher & Gary Neville compared. We knew he’d be the man for the job.

Starsailor's new track, ‘Poor Misguided Fool (Live with Strings)', is out now. ‘Starsailor with Strings: Live from Liverpool’ is due out 3rd October via East West / Parlophone.

Follow the band on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/starsailorofficial/?hl=en