There it went

[tuckwat]

On score updates before Go West there was Amazing Grace which was No. 1 for weeks as played by a mass of Scottish bagpipes.
Before half and full times the police at Highbury would patrol the perimeter (no fences see) as the North Bank sang "Old Macdonald Had A Farm" or humming the Laurel and Hardy theme tune.
Of course you wouldn't chant you're shit arrrgh at your own keeper so it would be oooooooohhhhhhhhh wooooooooooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhhh or sum such.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Distant Bums update: a friend who watched Luton late 60s/early 70s says the next lines (again accompanied by mass pointing) were-

“And do they smell?
Like fuckin’ ‘ell!
Over there, over there”

[Greenlander]

The full-on assult of the Christmas music season brings to mind the Boney M classic:

Hark now hear the <insert your team here> sing
When <insert opposition team here> ran away
And we will fight forevermore
Because of Saturday

[Jah Womble]

It was 'Arsenal' (obviously) and 'Boxing Day' (which at least nodded to the season) for my lot back in t' 1970s.

The chant pre-dates Boney M's version of Mary's Boy Child by at least fifteen years - Harry Belafonte, perhaps?

[Logan Mountstuart]

On score updates before Go West there was Amazing Grace which was No. 1 for weeks as played by a mass of Scottish bagpipes.
Before half and full times the police at Highbury would patrol the perimeter (no fences see) as the North Bank sang "Old Macdonald Had A Farm" or humming the Laurel and Hardy theme tune.
Of course you wouldn't chant you're shit arrrgh at your own keeper so it would be oooooooohhhhhhhhh wooooooooooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhhh or sum such.

Police were often greeted with "Who's that tw*t with a nipple on his hat? Do daa. Do daa. "

This probably died out because said nipples have tended too as well.

I can't believe nobody sang in grounds before the 60s. In fact I'd

[Logan Mountstuart]

I'd switch my original bet from a bob —tailed nag to assert that they did.

[tee rex]

The first season of Match of the Day is available on Youtube, if anyone (like me) wants to research this more thoroughly.

The famous first show (Anfield, Beatleville, cat on pitch, Wolstenholme) has the "cha cha cha" (as Kenneth calls it) but very little singing from the Kop, even though the Mersey Beat had been going a while by then.

Match of the Day playlist, 1964-65

[Mr Cogito]

Police were often greeted with "Who's that tw*t with a nipple on his hat? Do daa. Do daa. "

This probably died out because said nipples have tended too as well.

I can't believe nobody sang in grounds before the 60s. In fact I'd

The version I heard was "Who's that prat with the big blue hat...".

Also, "Harry Roberts is our friend, is our friend, is our friend, Harry Roberts is our friend, he kills coppers". As a 10 year old I never really gave it a second thought, and the killings might as well have been ancient history to me, but in fact had happened within the previous 5 years. Most of the boys in blue in front of us used to laugh when we sang it. Some, mind you, got very very angry.

[Nefertiti2]

think a lot of the other songs came from the army, I guess post WW2?National Service.

Bless em all.

"Fuck em All Fuck em all

X, y millwall

for we are the XXX and we are the best we are the the XXX so fuck off the rest"


Or remains of Music hall


We will fight fight fight for United till we win the football league

The Bold Gendarmes

Knees up Mother Brown

[longeared]

At every game Wednesday fans still sing;

Hark now hear the Wednesday sing
United ran away
And we will fight for ever more
Because of Boxing Day

"Boxing Day" in our context refers to the Boxing Day Massacre of 1979 when Wednesday beat our near neighbours 4-0 at Hillsborough, a pivotal day in the history of both clubs in front of what remains the record attendance for a regular season 3rd division game.

[tee rex]

We've got various threads on popular songs/tunes getting an airing at football grounds, this seems as good a place as any ...

A mundane Div 2 game from 1968, Sheffield Utd v Oxford Utd. Thanks to the noisy home support (or the microphone placement by the BBC), it provides a good selection for football song historians. At least in the first half, until the chants fade away when (Spoiler!) the Blades go behind.

One in particular was a surprise. Several times you can hear a version of The Casuals' "(What am I supposed to do with a girl like) Jesamine?" (e.g. at 5:50, and when Sheffield have a corner at 15:00). Surprising because it had only just entered the charts and on that date was at no.22. Not even a real hit yet (peaked at 2 later).

That must be a strong claim for the quickest ever move from hit-to-terrace, from Radio 1 to Match Of The Day, almost literally overnight.

(other items of interest ... some famous names in the two teams, and the headlines at the end, including - trivia fans - Nick Hornby's first game at Highbury, the opening chapter of Fever Pitch).

[DCI Harry Batt]

We'll support you ever more

This is now "your support is fucking shit".

Sorry tee rex, your post deserved a better follow up. Thanks, I'm watching and have shared.

[jameswba]

Other than at Villa Park, 'Savo' was a familiar cry across Birmingham and the Black Country (and perhaps beyond) in the late 90s whenever an opposition striker missed an easy chance. A tribute to Villa's profligate striker Savo Milosevic.

[Giggler]

It comes from a 1962 song Lets Go Pony by The Routers. Will let someone else attach a link if they want to

That's the vibrate pattern on my phone. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Scott Walker played bass on it as a session player.

[cantagalo]

We've got various threads on popular songs/tunes getting an airing at football grounds, this seems as good a place as any ...

A mundane Div 2 game from 1968, Sheffield Utd v Oxford Utd. Thanks to the noisy home support (or the microphone placement by the BBC), it provides a good selection for football song historians. At least in the first half, until the chants fade away when (Spoiler!) the Blades go behind.

One in particular was a surprise. Several times you can hear a version of The Casuals' "(What am I supposed to do with a girl like) Jesamine?" (e.g. at 5:50, and when Sheffield have a corner at 15:00). Surprising because it had only just entered the charts and on that date was at no.22. Not even a real hit yet (peaked at 2 later).

That must be a strong claim for the quickest ever move from hit-to-terrace, from Radio 1 to Match Of The Day, almost literally overnight.

(other items of interest ... some famous names in the two teams, and the headlines at the end, including - trivia fans - Nick Hornby's first game at Highbury, the opening chapter of Fever Pitch).

'Here's to you, Colin Addison. We all love you more than you will know'.

Other than that, I was reminded that, even at the age of 18, Tony Currie was a great player and that Kenneth Wolstenholme, at any age, was an awful commentator.

[Lobachevsky]

Surviving knees up mother brown on the shelf side in the 70s was a miracle.

oooh it’s a corner
oooh it’s a corner

score Tottenham score
when you get one you’ll get more
you’ll see this assembly
when we get to wembley
so come on Tottenham score

if I had the wings of a sparrow
if I had the arse of cow
id fly over Highbury tomorrow
and shit on the bastards below

we’ll take more care of you
Archibald Archibald

this last to the tune of a BA advert from early 80s

[Jah Womble]

(I think it was ‘crow’ rather than ‘cow’.)

[ad hoc]

The arse of a crow?

[Jah Womble]

Well, unless you have flying cows around your neck of the woods, it would make greater sense.

(Plus, there’s the rhyme and all that…)

[ad hoc]

Surely it's proposing a mythical beast half sparrow, half cow which would fly easily over Highbury and then shit massively

[Jah Womble]

Well, perhaps - but rhyming ‘cow’ with ‘below’ would fail even the Tottenham Nutters’ entrance exam.

[ad hoc]

The rhyming argument I get. It's just the idea of a sparrow with a crow's arse doesn't seem that extreme

[torres]

I thought it was Eagle and Cow

[Capybara]

To be fair, a pair of sparrow wings wouldn't come close to lifting a cow's arse off the ground let alone flying over Highbury with it.

[ad hoc]

To be fair, a pair of sparrow wings wouldn't come close to lifting a cow's arse off the ground let alone flying over Highbury with it.

It could grip it by the husk