Wigan band's nostalgic song fund-raising for football club

Michael Frost, who appeared alongside his fellow musician Tom Jones in a viral lockdown recording of the song, wanted to use the celebration of how things used to be in the town to help the club’s current plight after it went into administration in early July.

The alt-folk group has now set up a crowd-funding page and is asking everyone who downloads the song to give a small amount to the cause.

Michael and Tom also filmed a new video for the song for its new status as a charity single, which included them visiting the DW Stadium and touring some of the other Wigan locations mentioned in the humorous lyrics.

Michael said: “The original video reached a lot of people and I thought it would be great to convert that into money for the club.

“I’m a Latics fan and am hoping we can make a bit of a difference.

“It would be great to be able to help pay for the team’s travel or provide salaries so some of the local jobs can come back.

“It’s amazing that people are giving anything and we really appreciate it.

“It’s a hard time to ask for donations but if everyone just puts in a bit it will really help.

“We’re trying to think of the bigger picture of lost jobs and money not coming into the town from travel.

“We filmed parts of the video at the stadium, which was an amazing experience, they gave us free rein.

“We lifted the FA Cup, which was great, and we filmed in some of the stands.

“That was quite a poignant and sad moment actually because we were in this empty ground with all these cardboard cut-outs of fans.

“We wanted people to be able to latch on to that feeling of going to a football ground to watch a match, which they haven’t been able to do for a long time.

“We even got permission to use some footage of goals from the season in the video.”

The new video for Good Old Days also features Tom and Michael in period garb at Wigan Pier with a filter giving the footage a Peaky Blinders-type look.

The band thanked the supporters’ club and the stadium for the support given in attaching Good Old Days to the fund-raising campaign.

Michael and Tom are hoping the song will contribute around £2,000 to Let’s Hang On.

The track tries to channel upbeat vibes even though it was written during the coronavirus pandemic and is now being used to support efforts to prevent disaster striking at Latics.

Michael said: “There’s definitely a Vera Lynn, wartime songs feel to Good Old Days.

“We want people to feel that surge of positivity.

“We are also at war with a virus.

“The threat is real and people are suffering.”

To find out more or to donate to the appeal, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/good-old-days-letshangon-charity-single