Rod Stewart - Gravely voiced housewives' favourite Rod Stewart is not only adept at getting middle-aged women to throw their knickers at him but can also handle himself on the football pitch too. Having played upfront for Middlesex Schoolboys in his youth he went on to play for Brentford. "I was there on trial. I'd go down there three or four times a week to play and clean the first team's boots. But my heart wasn't really in it", Rod explained to Rolling Stone. Stewart also has a full size "premiership quality" pitch at his mansion in Essex and regularly plays in celebrity charity matches.

Nicky Wire - Manic Street Preachers bassist and famous cross-dresser Nicky Wire not only has a talent for being a leaping guitarist, but also in his younger days used to be an accomplished footballer. Wire found himself captain of the Welsh National Schoolboys at the age of 14 and had a trial with Arsenal before a back injury forced his premature retirement. He has recently admitted that "Jumping around on a stage is much easier than five-a-side football."

Richard Ashcroft - The Verve frontman and Lancashire native played for Wigan Athletic in his teens although unsurprisingly for an avid Manchester United fan maverick winger George Best was his idol growing up. Ashcroft still has a place in his heart for Wigan Athletic as well as still playing occasionally. He was last spotted playing in a charity football match on the side of the England Legends against Germany Legends in June 2006 to raise money for cancer research.

Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan - The silent one who left Oasis a decade ago was a talented footballer long before the days of Britpop. Like the Gallagher brothers Guigsy is an avid Manchester City fan, unlike the Gallaghers he "could have made it as a footballer" but unfortunately his career was ended by a torn knee ligament. McGuigan is such a huge football fan that he even co-authored a book about obscure former Reading and Cardiff player Robin Friday.

Rick Savage - The last remaining founder member of Def Leppard, Rick Savage, nearly didn't pick up the bass at all in order to pursue a football career instead. "That's all I ever wanted to do" Savage says about playing football for a living. The fiercely loyal Sheffield Wednesday fan actually played briefly for local rivals Sheffield United in his youth before quitting to pursue a career in music.

Gavin Rossdale - Before the days of Bush and his marriage to Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale played semi-professional football after leaving school. Unfortunately, like so many on our list he had to give up football due to an injury. More recently, on the promo video to Bush's 2008 single 'Love Remains The Same', Rossdale is seen showing off his football skills on a basketball court.

Martin Kemp - The Spandau Ballet bassist is also known across the country as the actor who used to play Steve Owen in EastEnders for three years, but did you know Kemp could have potentially been a professional footballer? Before the days of Spandau Ballet, Kemp was offered a trial with North Londoners Arsenal before a serious knee injury forced him to prematurely retire.

Steve Harris – The bass player who chose music over a career in football, despite reaching the level of West Ham reserves in the mid-1970s, higher than any of the others on the list. Harris still plays football in his spare time when not on tour with the band but admitted he “didn't quite make the grade” as a footballer.

Badly Drawn Boy - Woolly-hatted singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy is another northern Manchester City supporting musician. However, Gough used to be a tidy player back in his younger days (not that you'd know it from his portly figure these days) and attended a trail with arch rivals Manchester United in the late 1980s. Not only that but his stage name also adorns the shirts of his sister's team's football kit, as he is their sponsor.

Johnny Marr - Former Smiths man Johnny Marr may now be most famous for his ornate guitar compositions but the young Johnny Maher originally aspired to be a professional footballer. Following interest from both Nottingham Forest and Manchester City (Marr's team of preference) who offered him trails, Marr decided to focus all of his attention on music telling magazine Four Four Two “I was good enough for City,but they didn't follow up because I was probably the only player out there wearing eyeliner”.

Slightly breaking the mould here as Pete Doherty has never had trials for a club. However, his passion for Queens Park Rangers is so intense that we reckon he'd easily quit his music career to become a footballer if given the chance (even though he'd fail the drugs tests). In his teens Doherty edited a fanzine for the West London club and more recently he composed a song for his beloved team. Doherty clearly fancies himself as a bit of player having romped to victory in the 2007 celebrity soccer six tournament, while he can also be seen playing football in the video for his 'Last of the English Roses' single.

James Allen - As recently as four years ago, the Glasvegas main man was playing professionally and spent time at Falkirk, Gretna and Cowdenbeath in Scotland. The maudlin rocker was eventually released from the club and went on to form the immensely popular band behind hits such as 'Daddy's Gone' and 'Geraldine'. Allen has likened his time as a footballer with being in a band saying, "The common link between the two is they can be pretty triumphant, euphoric, feel-good."

Sergio Pizzorno - Kasabian songwriter and guitarist Serge Pizzorno has admitted that his first love was football and his lifetime ambition was initially to play for Leicester City. Despite this, Serge had trials with Leicester's rivals Nottingham Forest in his younger days and supposedly wore his Leicester City socks under his Forest ones in protest. Pizzorno lent his skills to charity appearing at Anfield in 2005 for the Tsunami Soccer Aid benefit match.