It is probably the nation’s favourite ever football advert but when it was first filmed, the beer brand who commissioned it wasn’t entirely convinced.
When you watch it back now, that’s barely believable. Because no commercial before or since Carlsberg’s 2006 spot “Old Lions” has better captured the essence of why the sport is so popular.
The premise was simple yet superb: bring together a collection of iconic former England internationals to play as a pub team and film them doing things every Sunday league clogger can relate to.
The genius is not just in the roll call of stars they rope in – and with both Charlton brothers, former England skippers Bryan Robson and Terry Butcher and Sir Bobby Robson among the cast there is some serious star power – but the obvious chemistry between them all. There are 796 caps between them but apparently not an ego among them.
Such is its timeless appeal the advert periodically goes viral on social media. Following the sad death of one of its stars Sir Bobby Charlton, it was doing the rounds again, so it seemed like an opportune moment to revisit the advert in the company of its director Chris Palmer.
He doesn’t disappoint. Palmer is the co-founder of Gorgeous, a London-based production company that specialises in TV ads, and a natural raconteur. He’s also a die-hard Spurs fan and a massive football nut, which probably explains why the commercial ended up being so relatable.
Filmed over two days in Barking’s Parkway in the winter of 2005, the concept and storyboard were the brainchild of Saatchi & Saatchi. They’d been approached by Carlsberg, who wanted a campaign to coincide with the following summer’s World Cup.
By the time Palmer was on board, all of the players had been signed up. They’d been selected for how the ad agency felt they’d bounce off each other which is why the likes of Peter Reid got a call-up at the expense of some bigger names.
It was to prove a masterstroke: no one refused a request and the advert works because of it.
“It was an amazing job. I got paid for it but I’d have paid to do it,” Palmer tells i, some 17 years on from filming.
“It was the people involved who made it one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever did. I still remember getting in the car, getting there early and walking in and there’s all these legends around the tea truck.
“I was just like ‘F***!’ They were just a fantastic bunch of people and that’s why it was a success, I think.”
The advert’s central premise is that the Old Lions convene as any Sunday league side would, picking up lads on the way to play the Dog and Duck. Their open-mouthed opponents can’t believe who is confronting them and are duly thrashed 8-0 before the legends then retire to the pub.
Pretty much the whole thing is ad-libbed, with Palmer throwing in surprises for the stars and then filming their reaction. There are some lovely little touches – Alan Ball sniffing an old sock, the lads stopping for bacon sarnies, Stuart Pearce’s white shirt being tinged pink because he’d put it in the wrong wash.
Palmer tried to keep it as natural as possible. There’s a scene when Robson is giving a team talk and Pearce’s mum interrupts it with a phone call. No one knew it was going to happen and even Pearce didn’t know Palmer was going to pretend to be his mother. The whole changing room erupts in laughter.
“The trick is when you’re working with non-actors is to keep them really comfortable so they can just be themselves,” Palmer says.
“Most people are really interesting when they’re themselves, it’s when they’re in a public situation they clam up a bit. So we had a bit of fun with them.”
The Old Lions’ opponents were Palmer’s mates, friends he used to have a kickabout with on a Saturday afternoon. They had an idea of what was coming but their shock at the stars who come out of the changing room is genuine. Most of the match scenes were too, although a crunching challenge from Pearce had to be filmed several times.
Palmer remembers his popularity soaring when the royalty cheques – £1,000 a month for a few months – started to land on the door mats of his mates.
On the sidelines are more mates and a bloke who Palmer used to sit next to at Spurs: “He was always miserable every week but after I asked him to that, we became friends”. His friend’s parents Bert and Esther were asked because she was a huge Manchester United fan and wanted to meet Sir Bobby.
They filmed hours of footage that didn’t make the cut. Somewhere there’s a three-minute version of Robson’s team talk that never saw the light of day.
Watching it now the sight of the two Charlton brothers together is remarkable. Their relationship was complicated and uneasy but here they are, 40 years on from 1966 back in the white of England together.
“I know, amazing. There’s a lot said about but honestly, they got on fine,” Palmer says.
Sir Bobby (Charlton, for there were two knights of the realm involved) was as impressive as you’d imagine, and Palmer remembers how graceful he remained with the ball at his feet.
“Watch how Sir Bobby Charlton runs in the ad. He was in his 70s by then but watch him running, he was perfectly balanced,” he says.
“He said to me he’d only had one injury, when he twisted his ankle. He’d never been injured. What a great guy he was, an absolute gentleman.
“When I turned up he was in his trailer, the rest of the guys all having cups of tea and laughing their heads off. He was reading the newspaper but such a lovely bloke.
“He was not aloof, just quiet and a lovely fella.”
His older brother was very different, getting stuck in from the start.
“It was Jackie Charlton! I was in total awe,” Palmer says.
“As they ran out he came over to me and said ‘I’ve pulled me hamstring, I can’t play’. I said ‘No problem, we’ll factor it in’.
“”There’s a scene where the van driver has to drive away as Chrissy Waddle is trying to get in the back.
“But the driver couldn’t do it so Jackie goes ‘Get out’ and he does it. The clutch was knackered on the van so he took it over when the professional couldn’t manage.
“He went home by train which I thought was amazing. I said to him ‘Don’t you get mobbed?'”
There’s a lovely moment in the advert where the two of them appear in the same frame when Jackie is booked by the referee.
“I said to the ref at one point ‘Book Jackie at this corner’. He understood, he was with me. There’s a lovely bit where Bobby comes over to sort of defend his brother and it’s not scripted, I didn’t ask him to do it, it was just natural.”
At the end of it, Palmer couldn’t resist pulling his boots on to say he’d played against some of England’s finest. In-keeping with the spirit of the game, Waddle promptly nut-megged him which provoked hilarity from his friends.
He then asked them all to sign the ball, which has subsequently gone missing.
Amazingly, and despite its reputation, Carlsberg were fairly non-plussed with the finished edit. It total it cost £1.5m to make – not small beer but surely worth it for the impact it had.
“I don’t think they had any great hope for it. There was no joy up front. They presented it to the workforce up in Newcastle and they went barmy and then everyone was like ‘What a great ad!’
“Before that there was all this arguing about stuff that didn’t matter, like the colour of the badge and that sort of stuff.”
It took on a life of its own. Soccer AM called it the greatest football ad ever and Sky ran the whole three minutes for free. Palmer reckons Carlsberg missed a trick by not making more of it and says it would be virtually impossible to recreate something like that now.
“There were no agents involved, nothing like that. Everyone was having a great laugh, a great time,” he says.
“You just couldn’t do it now. I’ve worked with David Beckham a few times and that’s a different world.
“He’s alright but his entourage, that army of hangers-on can be a pain in the arse. And then there’s people with smart phones and you’d get mobbed trying to film it.
“I’m really proud of it, and proud people still seem to love it.”
We’ll drink to that.
