THE song that had England fans sing their lungs out following England’s win at Wembley during the Euro 2020 games.
Yet Sweet Caroline would have gone unheard during England matches at Wembley but for a lightbulb moment from Turkish Cypriot Tony Perry, the stadium’s DJ.
Every song played at Euro 2020 games needs the approval of the organisers and the 1969 karaoke classic was not on the list originally agreed with Mr Perry when the competition began.
After experiencing the atmosphere generated by crowds attending England’s group matches, Mr Perry, 34, felt that something was missing from his set to get Wembley singing along.
So he sought approval to introduce Sweet Caroline before the team’s historic last-16 win over Germany, which was granted.
After playing it before the match last Tuesday and seeing both sets of fans joining in, Mr Perry knew he had a hit on his hands. When he gave it a second airing after the game, an England anthem was born.
Protocol dictated that Three Lions, the team’s official victory song, had to be played first but despite having Vindaloo lined up immediately afterwards, the moment demanded that Sweet Caroline usurp it.
“The crowd just went berserk,” Mr Perry told The Daily Telegraph, revealing how he and Tom Howie, his match director, whipped Wembley up into even more of a frenzy.
“He said, ‘Let them have it again. The world’s been closed for 18 months’.
Harry Kane, the England captain, was so overcome by the resulting scenes that he struggled to get through a post-match interview, and Gareth Southgate, the manager, enthused: “You can’t beat a bit of Sweet Caroline – that’s a belter.”
Neil Diamond, who wrote the song, said how “thrilled” he had been to hear England fans singing it.