Who let John Parr loose?

It's been said many times that football and music fit together perfectly and quite often it's true - unless, however, it's ageing crooner John Parr who has been left to produce the tunes!

Ahead of the move to the Keepmoat Stadium midway through the 2006/07 campaign, the one-hit wonder who grew up in Doncaster and found fame with St Elmo's Fire saw it as the perfect time to launch a career comeback.

People wonder why they can't sell things on eBay when this signed John Parr 'Walking Out Of The Darkness' CD is currently priced at £15.

It was most probably Rovers' success over the previous year which inspired his sudden return from the wilderness after a 20-year absence and the title of his song 'Walking Out Of The Darkness' was just as fitting for him personally as it was for the Football Club, who'd battled long and hard for the best part of two decades to move into a fit-for-purpose 'modern' stadium.

There was plenty of fanfare about the release of the single. Beforehand, it was dubbed as being a tune which could be adopted as an anthem by supporters and used forevermore. Liverpool have 'You'll Never Walk Alone', Leeds United have Marching On Together - so why couldn't Doncaster Rovers have an anthem too?

The king of sore throat's comeback made headlines on Calendar News and was also featured on Doncaster Rovers' club website. Parr even arranged a visit to HMV in the Frenchgate Centre (who needs Meadowhall?) to do an extra-special live performance of his new hit in the weeks leading up to the stadium move and whilst social media was very much in its infancy, the song was strongly promoted on MySpace!

Surely it would be a success? Surely? 

Of course it wouldn't!

Walking Out Of The Darkness achieved a 'peak' position in the UK singles charts of No.155 - the football equivalent of competing to win the Premier League but ending up in the Evo-Stik League alongside Bamber Bridge, Nantwich and Mickleover.

In fairness, there was some stiff competition at the time as 'Patience' by Take That and 'A Moment Like This' by Leona Lewis were jostling for Number One spot, whilst Nelly Furtado, Amy Winehouse and Justin Timberlake were all performing strongly.

But there was some crap in the charts too. Crazy Frog, who bore more than a striking resemblance to my old I.T. teacher, was in 62nd spot, whilst Ricky Tomlinson's delightfully festive hit titled 'Christmas My Ar*e' was 98th.

Quite honestly though when a fat bloke who used to be on Brookside manages to get 57 places above you, irrespective of the time of year, it's probably time to stop writing songs, forget about a comeback and just retire gracefully!

The song didn't inspire Rovers' players either. Although the first game at the Keepmoat ended in a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town, it was subsequently followed up by a 4-0 whopping from Bolton Wanderers (at the time managed by Sam Allardyce) in the FA Cup, with the visitors in absolute cruise control by the half-hour mark.

The team, nevertheless, did reach the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final three months later - by which point Walking Out Of The Darkness had very much been left in the darkness - consigned to the history books, forgotten, disposed of, and never to be played over the PA system on matchdays ever again!