‘We beat Spain on the Saturday and went to see the Sex Pistols on Sunday. It was brilliant for me, but for Gareth Southgate I’m not so sure!’ Stuart Pearce recalls the time punk rock and Euro 96 collided

Music and football were at the epicentre of English culture in the summer of 1996.

Euro 96 was the first major international tournament to be played on English shores since the 1966 World Cup and it happened to coincide with the major cultural phenomenon that was Britpop. As Oasis and Blur duked it out in the charts, The Lightning Seeds soundtracked England’s run to the Euro 96 semi-finals with Three Lions.

Stuart Pearce was one of several members of Terry Venables’ squad to feature in the video for Three Lions, even if the former Nottingham Forest defender’s usual taste in music was something a bit more edgy.

Stuart Pearce on his admiration for Johnny Rotten

Pearce’s love for punk rock is well-documented, with the former electrician, who began his career with non-league Wealdstone, never shy in waxing lyrical about his favourite guitar bands, which often put him at odds with some of the more anodyne dressing room favourites of his era.

Big-name reunions are all the rage these days and in that summer of 1996 it was the turn of the Sex Pistols to get back together, as Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock got together for the first time in 18 years for a tour.

Pearce had been a fan of the Pistols since his formative years and was never going to let an international tournament on home soil get in the way of seeing them play.

“I was mad into punk and remember the Sex Pistols doing an interview on ITV,” Pearce recalls to FourFourTwo. “It was the first time that I’d heard anyone swear on TV – as a teenager, I thought it was brilliant!

“The punk movement inspired the likes of Green Day and Blink-182 – I used to go and see bands, and still go to at least one gig a week now. I went to watch an audience with John a few months ago and had a chat with him afterwards.

“I also saw him at Finsbury Park during Euro 96 – we beat Spain on Saturday, then I went to see the Sex Pistols on Sunday. One of the best weekends of my life.

“I went with Gareth Southgate, plus four or five staff – Terry Venables insisted we take people with us to keep an eye on everything.

“I think Stiff Little Fingers, Skunk Anansie and Iggy Pop were on too, so it was a brilliant line-up for me – for Gareth, I’m not so sure!”

Pearce was speaking in association with next-gen Fantasy Football mobile game CLUB, available for both Android and iOS