Like a night out in Sheffield, like a greasy chip buttie...
Sheffield United's club song - voted the second best soccer anthem ever - will be sung loud and proud at Wembley in the play-off final as nearly 40,000 Blades aim to paint the capital red and white.
Bramall Lane stadium announcer Gary Sinclair will be leading the battle cry of the Blades with the help of 25,000 of the Red & White card 'Klappers', featuring the words of the song, which are being distributed by supporters' group members on Olympic Way and South Way to fans they prepare enter Wembley.
The origins of the song are detailed below.
Meanwhile United's Superstore is doing a booming business as fans clammer for red and white Wembley merchandise.
Foam hands are proving to be very popular but supporters are also snapping up car flags, wigs, beach balls and special rosettes. www.sufc-shop.co.uk
Our song
Sheffield United history expert John Garrett on the origins of the The Greasy Chip Buttie song:
You fill up my senses...
Like a gallon of Magnet
Like a packet of Woodbines,
Like a good pinch of snuff,
Like a night out in Sheffield,
Like a greasy chip buttie.
Like Sheffield United,
Come fill me again
Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Oooh!
Football humour is unique, and for that reason, the terrace humour and the songs it tends to throw up become the stuff of legend up and down the land.
Ask somebody where the song came from, and I guarantee that nobody will actually know the true answer. It always strikes me that there is some twisted genius at large thinking these things up, a true unsung hero.
The Greasy Chip Buttie, battle cry of our beloved Blades is no different. Sheffield United has a long list of clever, witty and downright hilarious terrace tunes, but this one is way out on its own.
I recall hearing it being sung for the first time in the mid 1980's, and fellow Blades pin point it to a game at Stoke City's Victoria ground on 17th August 1985. The Blades won 3-1.
Its words shout the virtues of the capitol of the north and its working class roots. The gallon of Magnet referred to is a John Smiths beer, with quite a kick to it, the Woodbine cigarette, though seldom seen these days, was the one that I can remember my late father smoking. My Mum used to send them out for him in tins as part of his Red Cross parcel whilst he was out fighting in Holland during the Second World War He used to smoke them until they disappeared to nothing!
Snuff was another very Sheffield thing. Wilson's Snuff Mill was located about a ¼ of a mile from the ground at the top of Sharrow Lane.
It was something of a fashion statement to take snuff (you inhaled it up your nose - I've heard it described as "working mans' cocaine!!), but the steel workers and coal miners used to use it as a substitute for smoking when they were working in the foundries or the coal face. All I recall is the state of Dad's white cotton hankies when he rooted them out for Mam to wash!
The night out in Sheffield is self explanatory. I often hear the City described as being the world's biggest village, and I think that is a very true statement. You don't have to travel far before somebody knows you, your business or a member of the family.
Sheffield is a big, friendly city with a buzzing and vibrant nightlife. It has a large student population these days, and it is no coincidence that it has one of the highest retention rates of any student cities in the country.
Many players and ex managers of the Club choose to stay in the City after their careers have finished, with iconic legend Tony Currie being the best example.
Finally, we tell everyone its 'like Sheffield United, come fill me again'. Sheffield is a football city, and the birthplace of the modern game. Being a Blade brings highs and lows, but the passion and commitment of following United is all consuming.
During the season, for many, Sheffield United fills every sense, and, no matter what the outcome, we are all in it through thick and thin.
Other Clubs have since adopted versions of the hymn, Burton Albion has a version, so does Grimsby Town. Chengdu, our Chinese sister Club has their own version, but one thing is for sure - the whole of Football know where they are and who they are playing.
