Thursday, December 22, 2011

Footy art: PETE McKEE

I am big a fan of Sheffield artist Pete McKee.
His cartoons are quite simple and colourful, but beautifully capture the England I know with his depictions of life in a Northern town in England during the 70's and 80's.
He pretty much covers all aspects of life including music, growing up, holidays, parents, pets and much more. I have decided to concentrate on his football pictures for this blog, he is a massive Sheffield Wednesday supporter, but even so does doff his cap to their bitter rivals United, which suggests to me that he is a proper fan.
Enjoy.


Lane Legends.
McKee pays his respects to Blades foursome Tony Currie, Keith Edwards, Jimmy Hagan and 90's goals machine Brian Deane.


Wednesday Legends, Class of 93.
Captured here are SWFC Hirst, Sheridan, Nilsson and Waddle. I love the attention paid to detail, like giving Geordie Chris Waddle a pint of Brown Ale.


Full Time.
A scene familiar to any football fan up and down the UK, the pint after the match, where you would celebrate or drown your sorrows depending upon whether your team was any good or not. I usually drowned my sorrows as Man City tended to be pretty shit back then.


The Lads.
An alternative version of the painting "Full Time" only this time depicting Newcastle United fans instead of Sheff Weds.



Yorkshire Mix.
Simple picture of a dad and his lad, early doors at the match, waiting for the ground to fill up. A common sight.


Wembely.
An intentional miss-spelling of Wembley (As in the stadium) We would play Wembely up north with a group of lads playing against each other in one goal, knocking each other out F.A Cup style until there was only two men standing for the final. Good times.



The Casuals.


Saturday Lads.
A couple of pictures with a nod to the casual culture. Obviously it was big with me, I still fancy myself as a bit of a casual and still wear Adidas, LaCoste and other gear, only now I sport a slaphead instead of a Perry flicker.


Sunday Moaning Football.
As a Sunday league footballer anyone devoted enough to cheer their mates, kids, husband, boyfriend or other loved ones gets my seal of approval, but doing this back home was on another level as the weather was usually awful and made your dedication even more admirable.


Sound of the Crowd.
Captures the exit from your local footy ground in the 80's perfectly. A bit of a crush, all male domain, kid on his dad's shoulders and a geezer smoking a ciggie as he sells the local "Pink Final". I can almost smell dodgy burgers and salt and vinegar coming from the nearby chippy.


Pre-match warm up
Looks like a young lad left sitting at the table in the pub alone while his dad and his mates empty their bladders in the bogs, just before the short walk to the ground.


More Yorkshire Mix
Same as Yorkshire mix only this time featuring Sheffield United instead of Wednesday.


Half Time
Halftime break during a probably epic game on a northern council estate. Jumpers for goalposts, the only thing missing is the bottle of Vimto we would take with us and drink during the middle of the match, Don't remember seeing many 0-0 draws and they were usually settled by a "Next goal wins" shout as we played until it went dark.


Football Highlights.
Possibly boy at the match with his grandad sharing a flask of hot tea or soup before the game. It usually was freezing and it looks like one of those Aladdin flasks that shattered into oblivion is you even glanced at them wrong.


Early Doors.
This was the norm for me and my mates when we first started going to watch City. We'd get into Maine Road as soon as the gates opened and would wander around the Kippax bored out of our heads waiting two or three hours until the ground filled up and the match started.
Just the various sounds and smells you encountered during that time and the sights, which were often violent were fucking magical to my 9 or 10 year old eyes. I can't imagine letting Owen going to the match with a few of his mates these days with a chaperone no older than 12 escorting us, but that's what we did back then.



9-0
Says it all really, I was and still am shit at foosball, and I hate the game as a result. What's the point of playing if you're rubbish?
Exactly.



Oasis - Heaton Park.
A poster McKee did for an Oasis concert in Heaton Park, Manchester.
A couple of kids hanging out in the park (One in a City shirt) waiting for others to show up just so they could start a game.
We'd do this as kids as there was a school at the bottom of our street with football goals. We'd start off with maybe 4 a side and people would see the game from their living room or bedroom windows and come out and join in. Even grown men staggering home quite drunk from the pub were known to join in and sometimes our little game would end up 18 a side. It was beautiful really.
Fights, rain, snow, hail, thunder and lightning or even a rare glimpse of sunshine never stopped play, only a ball popping could do that. And it did happen a couple of time, we hardly ever had a spare with us.
Sigh, life was a lot better and simpler before video games came along.

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