Wonderwall - 'the perfect football song': Why England fans (like David Beckham) and players love singing Oasis

Beckham joins in with Wonderwall

"Cmon England cmon Wonderwall."

That was the message, external once again from Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher on Sunday morning, after England's travelling supporters - including former captain Sir David Beckham and sons - sang his band's most famous song with the players at full-time following their World Cup quarter-final win over Norway in Miami.

It has become a new tradition in recent weeks, being belted out after all five of the men's team's wins across the US and Mexico.

Speaking to the Sun after their opening win in Dallas, the man who wrote it, Liam's brother and bandmate Noel Gallagher said: "Wonderwall belongs to the people, and it was a magical moment between the people and the players."

And he claims not to be an England fan.

Captain Harry Kane told the Lions' Den podcast that the first impromptu singalong was one of his "favourite ever moments in an England shirt".

His old teammate and now BBC Sport pundit Joe Hart said after the DR Congo game that such "phenomenal" moments of unity allow players to "drop the mask, just for a few minutes, of being an elite professional".

Norway fans and players may have combined similarly at this tournament to do the "Viking row", but (after all) it's Wonderwall that "resonates with being English", one fan told BBC Sport.

Wonderwall: 'No words can explain it'

While traditional England anthems including Three Lions, Vindaloo, World in Motion, as well as Sweet Caroline - the accidental breakout hit from Euro 2020 - have still been heard in pubs around the country, Wonderwall appears to be the song of the summer so far.

The number two hit, taken from Oasis's all-conquering 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory, re-entered the UK top 40 singles chart last week as a result of the initial viral moment. And on Friday it shot up from number 32 to 11.

In 2008, shortly before the Manchester band split up, Liam declared that he "can't stand singing that song" - the acoustically-driven ballad that launched a thousand buskers.

But since then he has done exactly that, many times and to great effect for adoring fans around the world throughout the band's big-selling reunion tour last year.

England players have been facing the fans behind the goal for shared Oasis singalongs after wins in Dallas, New Jersey, Atlanta, Mexico City and Miami

Author and broadcaster PJ Harrison, who last year released the biography Gallagher: The Rise and Fall of Oasis, finds the process of pop songs being adopted by football fans fascinating.

In the 1960s, the Evertonian tells BBC News, there was a tradition for fans simply singing pop hits of the day.

He thinks what is happening now with England and Wonderwall could not have been contrived.

"You have the long lifespan of Wonderwall, then you have the renewed interest with the tour," he notes. "And obviously, if you've got to put one song on from that tour, that fits.

"Then it's just a case of the DJ having the situational awareness to think, 'This is the song for the moment', put it on and everybody just embrace it."

He adds: "Once it takes root and it becomes melded to an emotional moment, like winning a first World Cup game, it just takes on this emotional life and quickly gathers an immediate nostalgia."

As for the song itself, Noel told Uncut magazine around the time of its release that it was a musical love letter to his then-wife Meg Mathews. But he subsequently changed his story, telling Q Magazine it was about "an imaginary friend who's going to come and save you from yourself".

The ambiguity in the lyrics allied to the familiar, easy melody, Harrison believes, allows fans to "express an outpouring of love without necessarily specifying what it's towards".

"What is a Wonderwall? I'm not really sure what it is but I can sing about it and it can be whatever I think it is," says the former Plymouth Argyle director and co-founder of the LA-based City of Angels FC.

"If I think it's Jude Bellingham or if I think it's England winning, it can be that, or it could be my girlfriend or whatever."

Unlike some of the other more upbeat, hopeful England songs, he feels the reflective nature of Wonderwall means it "would also still work in consolation if the team get knocked out".

'Euphoria and melancholy'

Do England fans know the lyrics to Wonderwall?

The term Wonderwall is originally taken from the psychedelic and surreal 1968 film of the same name.