QPR upset Doherty

Pete Doherty has admitted he is "disappointed" Michael Nyman was asked to write a song for his favourite football club, Queens Park Rangers.

Doherty is well-known to be one of the club's biggest fans, and used to write a fanzine for his beloved English Championship league team.

However, the club have recently begun to use a piece of music written by classical composer Nyman to accompany them as they run out onto the pitch at Loftus Road.

Speaking in a lengthy essay in today's Guardian newspaper, Doherty explains he has already written a song for QPR, which he hopes will be used for the team 'when' they win the FA Cup.

The essay reads: "Fair play to Michael Nyman for composing the song for Queens Park Rangers to come out on to the pitch but I've already written a song for when they win the FA Cup. He could do the B-side.

"Imagine a relationship that went wrong but you held on in there for years: that's what it is like supporting a football team. Your loyalty to a team can never die. Ties are stronger than they could ever be with a woman.

"If she goes and sleeps with your best mate, it's over. If the Rs' boss, Ian Holloway, slept with my best mate, QPR would still be my team. Even if many of the things that you loved about going to matches have gone - terraces, team shirts without sponsors and being able to smoke at grounds - you still stick with your team.

"My fondest memories involve things that happened off the pitch. I would climb into Loftus Road in the summer when the stadium was empty and sit there with my little book and pen, smoking a spliff behind the goal. One time, my girlfriend and I got into the dressing room and I stole a pair of shorts. That was one of the most romantic days of my life - snogging in the dressing room at QPR.

Speaking about his QPR track, Doherty explained: "My song is a ska number. It goes like this: 'I'll be, I'll be there/ And just before I hit the bar/ With the ghost of Rodney Marsh in his pre-smug pundit days/ Before he sold Rangers down the Swanee/ With Gerry Francis's offshore money/ It's a toss-up between Mick Jones/ And a consortium from the Middle Eastern equivalent of Barrett Homes/ I'll be, I'll be there/ With blue and white ticker tape in my hair/ Up the Rs/ Up the Rs/ Up the Rs/ What a life on Mars."

At the close, Doherty admits his frustration at being passed-over for Michael Nyman: "I'm quite disappointed that I wasn't asked to write the QPR anthem. I'm doing my best for them."