British football club forced to release statement over bizarre Taylor Swift rumour

An English football club has been forced to put out a strange statement after rumours circulated that Taylor Swift was interested in buying them out.

Now, we know that Tay-Tay has some interest in the NFL these days, but she’s yet to make a foray into association football in the UK just yet.

To be fair, she could do worse than following the examples of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who have enjoyed some great success on and off the pitch with Wrexham.

So, naturally the thoughts of those creating these rumours have turned to Notts County, who pushed Wrexham all the way in the National League last year, eventually gaining promotion to League Two – the lowest league of the English Football League – last year via a playoff.

This weekend, the Weekend Sport newspaper ran a headline suggesting that the singer – currently on her ‘Eras’ tour - might be interested at taking over at the Magpies, but it seems as if this might be a long way from reality, as the club – who claim to be the oldest football club in the world – have now issued a statement through their owners.

Don’t football pedants and Sheffield FC fans, we’ll come back to that claim in a wee while.

First, that statement.

It reads: "As sorry as we are to disappoint the Swifties in our fanbase, we’re going to have to shake this story off.

"There’s certainly no bad blood between ourselves and Taylor but, at such an exciting time for us and the club, she surely couldn’t have believed in her wildest dreams that we would relinquish our control.

"We’ll leave a blank space in tomorrow’s pre-match playlist for a track from her newly re-released 1989 album as a gesture of gratitude for her interest."

Obviously, even those who aren’t huge Swift fans will recognise that they’re referencing a load of her tracks throughout that bizarre statement.

After that, the club then shared a picture with Taylor Swift’s head photoshopped onto the body of one of the club’s owners holding the trophy they claimed last year - writing: "Taylor's Version."

It’s all a bit of fun, and good publicity for the black and white side, who resume their rivalry with Wrexham today at Meadow Lane.

#TaylorsVersion pic.twitter.com/RbOcHtbFJS

— Notts County FC (@Official_NCFC) October 27, 2023

As for those claims that Notts County are the oldest club in world football, there is some dispute over that.

Sheffield Football Club claims to be the oldest football club in the world, and they shared their own thoughts on Twitter, writing: “We don't really need to say this, but don't believe every ‘fact’ you read in the Weekend Sport.

“If [Taylor Swift] does want to invest in the actual oldest club in the world though, our DMs are open.”

Now, Sheffield FC just celebrated their 166^th birthday this week – 24 October, to be precise – which does technically make them the oldest club in the world.

In fact, they played games against themselves until Hallam FC formed in 1860, creating the world’s oldest derby.

Notts County were formed in 1862, and can rightly claim to be the oldest professional association football – soccer, if you will – club in the world.

Glad we could clear that up for the six or seven of you that are still left reading.