Pie, Pie, Chippy, Chippy, Pie

Seemed a good day for grounding yourself in the spirit of a true community-led football club with today’s home game for FC United of Manchester against Stalybridge Celtic. The game came a day after the obscene £5bn bid was made for Manchester United made by Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani. More ‘sports washing’ of a states dirty linen if that goes through? I dread to think about it, but probably.

FC United of Manchester’s motto is “making friends not millions” and that ire is already directed towards the greed of Manchester United’s current U.S owners, the Glazer family. It is a moot point whether (football) success can win over fans irrespective of where the funding comes from and it’s ethics. But FCUM are at least a true community club - albeit not Premier League.

Nothing reiterates this spirit more than the crowds adapted rendition of folk legend Ewan Maccoll’s song about Salford called ‘Dirty Old Town’. Here in east Manchester, the FCUM supporters have adapted their lyrics to this same tune and sing it every game at kick off. I videoed it here in case interested, but essentially they sing:

“I met my love by the gas works wall,
Dreamed my dream by the old canal,
I kissed my girl by the factory wall,
Dirty old town, dirty old town,
This is our club belongs to you and me,
We are United, United FC,
We may never go up, but we'll never feel down,
Now we build our own ground,
Now we build our own ground”

It is not all so community-led and benign though. Let us just say that the rather ‘well-built’ physique of the Stalybridge No. 3 left back provoked a rather un-PC (but bitingly funny) crowd response to him taking a corner in front of the main stand. Sung the the tune of ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes’ they sang, addressing him directly:

“Have you ever seen a salad in your life?
Have you (heck),
Singing pie, pie, chippy, chippy, pie,
Singing pie, pie, chippy, chippy, pie,
Pie, pie, chippy,
Pie, pie, chippy,
Pie, pie, chippy, chippy, pie”