Morrissey has requested an audience with indie-loving footballer Joey Barton at Glastonbury next weekend.
The former Smiths frontman is due to play before headliners U2 on the opening night of the June 24-26 festival. And the controversial Newcastle United midfielder reckons he has requested his company at the Worthy Farm event.
Barton expressed his delight about the summons on his Twitter page, Twitter.com/Joey7Barton, where he admitted he was surprised that the singer even knew who he was.
After telling his followers he had just had “the best phone call of my life”, Barton (pictured right) wrote: “It was from Morrissey‘s personal security man asking if I would like to meet the great man @ Glastonbury.”
The former Manchester City man later tweeted that he was listening to The Smiths in his garden and quoted lyrics from ‘The Queen Is Dead’‘s penultimate track ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’.
It’s not the first time that Morrissey has shown an interest in a controversial Premier League midfielder – his 1997 single ‘Roy’s Keen’ was a nod to then-Manchester United captain Roy Keane.
Barton, who was jailed in 2008 for assault, recently hired Vampire Weekend’s manager Ian Montone in a bid to improve his public image.
He won’t be the only footballer onsite at Glastonbury – fellow scouser Wayne Rooney is also set to attend.
The Manchester United striker’s brother Graeme revealed their festival plans on Twitter earlier this week.