Sheffield United Songs & Famous Chants: From The Greasy Chip Butty Song to Shoreham Boys

Sheffield is one of those cities, like Liverpool, Manchester and others, that has two teams that have extremely loyal followers. The fact that there is a local rival based so nearby also means that there is a ready-made target for any and all abuse that supporters might want to aim somewhere. The working-class nature of the city is such that what you might euphemistically refer to as ‘industrial language’ gets used on a regular basis, which is something worth bearing in mind if you’re looking to teach any youngsters in your life the songs and chants that Blades fans are liable to bring out and sing loudly on any given match day.

Not that every single song on the playlist is full of abuse, nor are they all explicitly about Sheffield Wednesday. There are plenty of songs in the Sheffield United songbook that are about showing love and affection towards the team and the players. It is also worth noting that many songs are about players actively playing for the club at a particular time, which can result in them no longer being sung when a player has decided to move on to pastures new. For that reason, we’ve tried to avoid the use of any such songs that are liable to be removed from the songbook at some point, sticking with the more evergreen ones.

One thing that it’s important to note is that this list of Sheffield United songs and chants is absolutely not exhaustive. If you think there’s one that you’ve heard being sung before, then you are likely to be 100% right. Instead, we’re looking to give you a flavour of the kinds of songs that might well be sung by supporters of the Blades home and away, bearing in mind that certain ditties are always likely to go in and out of fashion.

The Greasy Chip Butty Song

It is fair to say that there aren’t many football clubs with a song as original as that which Sheffield United supporters tend to bring out before home games. Sung to the tune of Annie’s Song by John Denver, it is there to glorify life in Sheffield, even if it is somewhat old hat in the things that the fans actually mention. Obviously, the chip butty itself takes centre stage, but the likes of nightlife, tobacco products and beer also get a mention.

Written by a fan of Rotherham United called Terry Morgan in the 1970s, it was originally about a local brewery with the chip butty only really mentioned as an afterthought before then becoming the focus.

A Blades supporter named Gavin Hancock, who lived in Rotherham, overheard Morgan singing it in a pub one night and decided to write his own version that caught on with his fellow Sheffield United fans to the point that it is now considered to be the official anthem of the football club. There are differing versions of the song, but the one that tends to be sung most often goes like this:

You light 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 butty,

Oh Sheffield United,

Come thrill me again!

Yorkshire

One of the things about Sheffield as a city is that it is one of the central places in South Yorkshire. Unsurprisingly, that is something that Blades supporters are proud of, especially when they are playing teams either from outside of South Yorkshire or even not any of the other Yorkshires around England. It is not unheard of for the fans to engage in a chant that is ridiculously simplistic, but that lets those listening know exactly where it is that their opponents hail from.

It’s fair to say that this is a chant that gets right to the point, with the following being what gets sung on repeat:

Yorkshire,

Yorkshire!

Nice to Know You’re Here

Football fans are nothing if not happy to engage in a bit of tit-for-tat banter at the expense of their opponents. In the case of Sheffield United supporters, they have a chant ready to go should they be playing in a match against a team with a supporter base that hasn’t been particularly vocal during the match. Sometimes, opposition supporters will get involved initially, then quieten down as the match progresses and only really make themselves known again when something happens such as they win a corner or score a goal. In such an instance, Blades fans will often taunt them with the following chant:

Nice to know,

Nice to know you’re f**king here!

Swinging a Pig

There are some songs that supporters of pretty much every club are liable to use in one form or another, often simply changing the lyrics to make it more about their own team. It is fair to say that this one is peculiarly Sheffield United-based, with no alternative versions going around as far as we’re aware. It isn’t even all that easy to figure out precisely what it is that the song is getting at if you don’t know that Blades supporters will sometimes call Sheffield Wednesday fans ‘pigs’. Here is what they will sing it with gusto from time to time:

I never felt more like swinging a pig!

From Hyde Park Flats to Wadsley Bridge,

United, you got me swinging a pig!

As you do,

As you f**king well should do!

We are Bladesmen

The whole point of supporting a football team is to gain that sense of identity and to feel as though you’re in a position to be able to get behind them whenever possible. For Sheffield United supporters, this will often involve singing songs about themselves as much as about the team that is playing on the pitch, with many thinking that they’re one and the same. As a result, followers of the Blades will sometimes sing this:

We are Bladesmen,

Super Bladesmen,

From the Lane!

We are Bladesmen,

Super Bladesman,

We are Bladesmen,

From the Lane!

(Repeat)

1889 Song

There are some songs that don’t really stand up to the test of modern-day niceties, but there are many football supporters who are quite happy to turn a blind eye to that. This is one such song, which isn’t particularly pleasant and is, thankfully, sung less and less often because of that:

No Pig fans in town,

No Hillsborough to sadden my eyes,

Jack Charlton is dead,

And the Pig fans have fled,

And the year is Eighteen Eighty Nine!

Oh What a Night

Blades fans remember fondly the time when Mark Duffy scored a goal at Hillsborough to give the visiting United team the win over their city rivals. In fact, it is remembered so well that if the supporters are in the mood to have a bit of a party, perhaps because they’re winning comfortably in a game, the fans will bring out their own version of the song Oh What a Night (December ’63) by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The lyrics are this:

Late September on a Sunday night,

Duffy scored and they were f**king shite!

Oh, what a feeling,

What a night!

Oh, what a night,

Oh, what a night!

Shoreham Boys We Are Here

Renowned for creating a good atmosphere at Bramall Lane, the name of the Shoreham Boys is taken from the Shoreham Street side of the club’s home ground, which is where the Kop is located. In the modern era, the Shoreham Boys ’89 group is one that is there to act as the core singing section, but in the 1970s and 1980s, the Shoreham Republican Army and the Shoreham Boot Boys were better known as hooligan elements of the Blades’ fanbase. The fact that the club itself is willing to embrace the image nowadays, often featuring the Shoreham Boys in club media and the like, shows you how far things have come on that front.

The song isn’t exactly an original one, nor is it a particularly user-friendly one in the modern era, with the following being the words that are sung:

Shoreham Boys

We are here!

Ohhhh, ohhhh!

Shoreham Boys

We are here!

Ohhhh, ohhhh!

Shoreham Boys

We are here!

Shag your wife, drink your beer

Ohhhh, ohhhh, ohhhh!