‘I loved Plymouth, but my girlfriend didn’t fancy moving. She then went out with Chris Martin. Imagine having your girl nicked by the guy from Coldplay!’ Paul McGregor on combining his football and music careers

Ian Woan and Paul McGregor of Nottingham Forest celebrate during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United at City Ground on May 1, 1996 in Nottingham, England. .

It’s hard enough to succeed in one career which sees you performing in front of thousands of fans who are paying for the privilege of seeing you go about your business.

So to do it in two fields is something special and it made former Nottingham Forest striker Paul McGregor something of a unicorn in 1990s culture.

The Liverpool-born forward came up through the ranks at Forest in the early ‘90s under Brian Clough, before enjoying more playing time under his successor Frank Clark, during a period in which Britpop was booming.

McGregor on balancing music and football

Paul McGregor celebrates after scoring for Nottingham Forest vs Lyon in the UEFA Cup on 21 November 1995 (Image credit: Steve Morton/EMPICS)

"I was always passionate about music and went to loads of gigs,” McGregor tells FourFourTwo. “I remember after a 5-0 defeat to Man United in April 1996, Frank Clark said we couldn’t go out, but I’d sorted us tickets to see Oasis at Maine Road.

“[Stuart] Pearcey had a word with Frank and, eventually, he said we could go. I was also in a band called Merc and we started getting noticed. The tabloids picked it up and labelled me the ‘Britpop Footballer’.

McGregor went to see Oasis at Maine Road (Image credit: Kevin Cummins)

“NME listed me in their top three coolest players. The others were Danny Dichio, as he was DJing and into the whole rave scene, and Paolo Maldini – because, well, it’s Paolo f**king Maldini.”

After loan stints at Carlisle United and Preston North End, McGregor left Forest for fourth-tier Plymouth in 1999. But was that a tough decision to drop down?

“Not really,” he continues. “I was set to be the main man for Forest under Clark from the 1996-97 season, but I injured my ACL and missed a year. When I got back, Dave Bassett had taken over and wanted nothing to do with me.

“I went to Plymouth to build some confidence and ended up having a great time, but it was a long way from the London music scene.

Chris Martin at the Camp Nou, several years after nicking Paul McGregor's girlfiend (Image credit: Spotify)

“My girlfriend didn’t fancy moving down and we split up. She then went out with Chris Martin. Imagine having your girlfriend nicked by the bloke from Coldplay! Still, the football was brilliant.

“I should never have left, but I got a bigger offer from Northampton. That went absolutely terribly and I fell out of love with football. I retired before I was 30 to focus on music.”