The singing of football anthems while watching your favorite team play is an age-old British tradition. Many songs are sung because the original singers had links to the clubs, or for some, the lyrics to the song stand out for their own reasons. Whatever the reason, most clubs have adopted at least one song to sing on the terraces. Here are the top football anthems and why they are sung by supporters.
Liverpool – “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
Liverpool culture exploded in the 1960s. Liverpool fans started singing the No. 1 song of the week at football matches. At one point, Gerry and the Pacemakers stayed at No. 1 for four weeks with “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” The singer presented the football club manager with a copy of the song who then declared it to be “The new song of Liverpool FC.” A new tradition was born.
Everton – “Z Cars”
This long running TV show was filmed in Liverpool, quite locally to the Everton football stadium. The team started coming on to the pitch to the theme tune to Z Cars and it has been their anthem ever since.
West Ham – “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”
This was a popular music hall song in the 1920s. At the time, one of the West Ham Players, Billy Murray, was said to look like the Bubbles character from the Millais painting, used at that time in a Pears Soap commercial. The team’s supporters nicknamed the player Bubbles and adopted this song as their anthem. This is still sung today by those in the stands as well as those who bet and watch live football who get to watch bubbles being blown onto the pitch as their team walk out.
Leeds – “Marching on Together”
This was the B side to the club’s official song for the 1972 FA Cup final. The official song didn’t really catch on but the B side that featured vocals from club players and fans did. It also has Leeds City specific lyrics that certainly helped it to become the club anthem.
Crystal Palace – “Glad All Over”
This comes from the relationship between the band and the club. The Dave Clark Five played a gig in the club’s football ground in 1968 and this song featured in it. It really caught on with the fans and was adopted as their anthem from then on. A cover version was released by the squad in the run up to their 1990 FA cup final.
Manchester City – “Blue Moon”
This song was first adopted by Crewe Alexandra before being taken over by Manchester City in around 1989. The song has been performed by many artists and the lyrics changed. However, the version that starts “Blue moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own” is the version adopted by the club. Perhaps this is reminiscent of the times the club hasn’t performed so well. The fact that they play in a blue strip has also helped the fans take this song to their hearts.
These are just some of the most well-known football club anthems, but there are many others, so why not check them out?
