Footy comics hit by website collapse

Two comics’ hopes for World Cup rush on their football anthem have been dashed after the collapse of a music download site.

John Ryan and Steve Gribbin were expecting a peak in sales of their track – We’re Gonna Do Quite Well (Injury Permitting) – to coincide with England’s first tournament clash this Saturday.

But last night, the website selling it – Karma Downloads – unexpectedly shut up shop, citing financial difficulties. Visitors to the site are now greeted with the notice: ‘It is regretted that trading has been temporarily suspended until Karma Group reviews its financial standing after an aborted capital raising exercise.’

The blow came as the duo, who recorded their anthem under the name Him N Im, won plenty of publicity for their endeavour, including a full-page feature in London’s Time Out magazine this week.

And it’s not the first bad omen to strike the single. One lyric goes ‘Schloss is the German word for castle/Please don’t break your metatarsal’ – written three months before Wayne Rooney broke the bone in his foot.

However, in the bulldog spirit of England fans, the pair were determined not to let the setback get them down. ‘This is our chance to show the same durability the team will need in Germany,’ said Ryan.

However, Chortle has now stepped in to offer the song on our download site, so football fans can buy it here – and aid the Orchid Cancer Appeal, which will receive half the profits.

Gribbin says the song is more realistic than many triumphalist football tunes, and features the same mix of ‘blind optimism, over-confidence, lacerating self-castigation and self-pity’ shared by most England fans.

>> Download the track from Chortle's MP3 shop

Published: 8 Jun 2006