Meet the 24 stone goalie who first inspired ‘who ate all the pies’ footie chant

Have you ever wondered where your favourite terrace slogans actually came from? Most of them probably seemed sensible at the time…

Footballers have been banned from saying “come on lads”, as the Daily Star reported yesterday.

Chiefs at the Berks and Bucks FA have decreed that it’s an offensive rallying cry and should be replaced by “come on team.”

But where does that leave all the sport’s other lingo we shout on match day? Here we pitch in with some facts about the nation’s top football anthems and chants…

‘You’ll never walk alone!’ The song was adopted by Liverpool FC fans after Gerry and the Pacemakers had a No1 hit with it in 1963.

A favourite of ex-manager Bill Shankly, it now appears on gates at Anfield and on the club badge. But the tune was originally written for the 1945 American show Carousel and had nothing to do with football.

‘Who ate all the pies?’ The famous footie chant dates back to 1894 when it was directed at Sheffield Utd goalie William ‘Fatty’ Foulke by the club’s fans. The keeper weighed in at 24 stone – but did later win an England cap.

Traditionally the song was sung to the old pub tune Knees up Mother Brown.

‘On the ball city!’ The name of the nation’s oldest football chant, still sung by Norwich City supporters.

Written by Albert T Smith, it dates to the club’s forerunners in the 1890s and goes: “Keep it low, a splendid rush, bravo, win or die; On the ball, City, never mind the danger; Steady on, now’s your chance; Hurrah! We’ve scored a goal.”

‘Que sera, sera …whatever will be will be, we’re going to Wembley, que sera sera’. The familiar refrain comes from a song sung by Doris Day in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. It was popularised by Man Utd fans at the 1976 FA Cup final.

You’re not singing any more : Heard at football grounds around the country for decades, this popular chant is set to an old Welsh hymn tune, Cwm Rhondda.

Blue moon : Although the song is now associated with Man City, fans of the club only adopted it during the 1989-90 season. Before that it was sung by Crewe Alexandra supporters.

The tune itself was penned by American songwriters Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart in 1934.

Forever blowing bubbles : Legend has it that the 1919 American song was adopted by West Ham fans thanks to East London headmaster Cornelius Beal.

He began singing it to cheer on local schoolboy Will ‘Bubbles’ Murray at matches and it caught on with fellow Hammers.

‘He’s big, he’s red …his feet stick out the bed, Peter Crouch!’ This Liverpool chant about the team’s 6ft6in former ace was voted the funniest ever, in a 2023 poll of fans.

‘When you’re sat in row z …and the ball hits your head, that’s Zamora’: Second place in the same poll went to this ditty about ex-Fulham and West Ham striker Bobby Zamora, set to Dean Martin’s song ‘That’s Amore.’

‘We’re gonna deep fry yer pizzas’ The best chant at an international match goes to The Tartan Army, who sang this, to the tune to the traditional Cuban song Guantanamera, during a 2007 game between Scotland and Italy.