Clinton Baptiste predicts…“City will bounce back!” | OneFootball

“Spirits, fading now…”

Not our words, the words of the psychic phenomenon that is Clinton Baptiste.

The mystical character, who first appeared in an episode of Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights cult comedy Channel 4 show in 2001, is played by Alex Lowe, who is also a huge Wolverhampton Wanderers fan.

We spoke to Alex ahead of our opening day fixture ahead at Molineux and talked about all things, Wolves, City and, of course, the quite wonderful Clinton Baptiste…

Alex, thanks for talking to us. Let’s start with Wolves – how and when did your love of all things black and gold begin?

“I am from north-west London and was a massive QPR fan growing up – and this is so ridiculous -  when my son was about seven, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scored against QPR for Wolves to send them up in 2009 and I had this picture of him and QPR defender Kaspars Gorkšs who had a bloodied bandage on his head.

“It was such a great photo with the old gold and blue and white hoops and I stuck it on my fridge and typical of my son being contentious, decided to support the wrong team and now, 13 years on, I’m a season ticket holder at Wolves with my son.

“I have no connection whatsoever with the West Midlands other than my father doing his national service there. We follow them home and away and it’s been great as a father and son bonding exercise, and I really love it.”

And you still occasionally watch QPR?

“I do, I was there the other week against Preston and it’s all blood and thunder, unforgiving tackles and non-stop in the Championship where there’s nothing between any of the clubs in that division.

“I’m actually at QPR v Watford this weekend because my lad is not available to go to Molineux against your lot because he’s on a birthday pub crawl!

“I do enjoy there being no VAR as well at that level.”

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How do you feel about facing City first?

“I don’t think it’s a good time for us to play City and I feel very disloyal saying that. I’ve watched Wolves several times in pre-season, and it wasn’t particularly impressive.

“It’s a different thing when the season starts, but I’m a little bit nervous because we’ve sold our best players and haven’t replaced them from what I’ve seen. You never know – we had quite a track record against City up to a few years ago.

“I’m a realist and I hope Wolves can do it, but I’m a bit nervous about this game.”

Any games against City stick in the memory?

“There are. I remember watching Adama Traore score twice at the Etihad in a 2-0 win in 2019, and I was on tour at Sheffield at the time at a Walkabout bar which I really loved because of the limbs in the away end and we beat you 3-2 in December that same year when Matt Docherty scored the winner after we’d been 2-0 down which was a fantastic match.

“One I’d love to forget was the game against City when Jack Grealish scored after about 20 seconds as we were on our way to our seats.”

How do you see both teams getting on this season?

“I’d like to think we can achieve mid-table and maybe  have a cup run if I’m being kind.

“I was so jealous of Crystal Palace winning the FA Cup because Wolves are a bigger club in my opinion, but they had the most amazing day, but it’s such a shame they won’t contest the Europa League.”

Onto Clinton – did you imagine his unforgettable Phoenix Nights appearance would be as popular as it was given the brevity of the part?

“I had absolutely no idea, and I am completely delighted because I have spent my entire career without anyone caring one iota about what I’m doing – and it’s only been in the last 10 years that people have been interested.

“At my gigs, I get people coming up to me telling me they’d seen me in certain things as they were growing up and it’s really gratifying. I still feel like I’m having the longest apprenticeship anybody’s ever had where everyone sort of knows me and had seen me coming up and 99.9% of the people are so nice to me and love Clinton.

“I know how much affection people have for Phoenix Nights, but when people tell me how much they loved my podcast or previous live shows I’ve done, it’s just wonderful and I want to do it for as long as I can stand.”

The Paranormal Podcast started in 2018 – were you confident people would still want to hear his psychic musings?

“I wasn't nervous because anyone can do a podcast as they are two-a-penny. But that grew and grew over time, though sadly I’m not doing any more, though I would like to resurrect it someday.

“I got some lovely feedback from it with some telling me that it helped them through difficult times, so maybe one day I can do it again, but I’m so busy writing for the upcoming tour.”

The 2026 tour has more than 60 dates – a huge tour to undertake - how many people will you be playing to?

“Thousands! The Roller Ghoster tour was 125 dates which was exhausting, so we are doing bigger venues and less dates this time and I’m amazed and thrilled that with six months to go, we’ve sold more than 50% of the tickets including 64% of the tickets at the London Palladium.”

Will Taruak and Ramone be making an appearance?

“We’ll see. Ramone won’t be but we are thinking about Taruak, we just need a purpose for him to be included.”

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Finally, Clinton’s prediction for City’s season?

“Clinton’s prediction is for City to bounce back this season and win the Premier League, just pipping Wolves by a couple of points.

“Pickles the dog who found the World Cup has just told me that in my ear - and he’s not wrong.”

Pictures: © Matt Crockett

Catch Clinton on tour in 2026 – ticket details here: Clinton Baptiste | Book 2026 Tour Tickets Today