No one likes us, we don't care

"No one likes us, we don't care" is a football chant which originated with the supporters of Millwall Football Club in the late seventies. The chant is to the tune of (We Are) Sailing by Rod Stewart.

The song was originally sung by Millwall fans in response to the sustained criticism of their behaviour by the press and the image of many Millwall fans as hooligans, perpetuated by certain sections of the media. The song reached a worldwide audience when Millwall reached the FA Cup Final in 2004.

Social origins

Many other football clubs in the UK have hooligans, but various commentators including Danny Baker and Rod Liddle (both men are Millwall supporters) have questioned why Millwall's have consistently been singled out to the point where the name of Millwall has become synonymous with hooliganism, creating a siege mentality amongst the ordinary, law-abiding Millwall fans.

From the late 1960s through to the early 1980s there was a gradual increase in academic study of, and political concerns over, violence at football matches. Millwall featured in some of these studies. In 1977 a Panorama programme by the BBC Dr. Anthony Clare used Millwall as an example of fans who were looking for trouble and using a militaristic analogy said:

But within Millwall's terraced army, there are divisions. ... In the trench warfare of the terraces, it's F-Troop who go over the top. F-Troop are the real nutters ... who go looking for fights and are seldom disappointed...

This was followed up by Don Atyeo who wrote in Blood & guts, violence in sports (1979) that "F-Troop are Millwall's hard men, an older (generally middle to late 20's), tougher brigade who are bent on 'rucking' at every opportunity, even to the extent of attending games which Millwall are not even playing". In his book The Soccer Tribe (1981), Desmond Morris mentions several football firms, by dwelt on hooliganism by Millwall supporters by quoting an long extract about F-Troop from Atyeo's book, and so introduced an even wider audience to Millwall's hooligans.

Southwark-born writer and journalist Michael Collins believes that it is due to what he terms the demonisation of the white working classes, and that as Millwall's support has always been drawn from this group, they present an easy target for the press and media alike. Collins writes: "At the end of the 19th century around the time Millwall F.C. was formed, middle-class journalists used to descend on the area like Baudelaireian flaneurs, to report on the urban working class as though they were discovering natives from the remote islands of the Empire".

Supporters of other clubs, social groups and members of professions who perceive themselves as not being liked for various reasons, have used variations of the chant. Wealdstone F.C., MK Dons, Crawley Town, AIK, Shamrock Rovers, Philadelphia Union, Columbus Crew, Urawa Red Diamonds, Raith Rovers, Hertha BSC, Detroit City FC, RB Leipzig and MSV Duisburg supporters have also adopted the chant. Rangers supporters sing a version of the song with the lyrics changed to reflect a bitter rivalry with Celtic F.C.; however, this version contains lyrics which have been condemned as sectarian. Non-league team Dulwich Hamlet F.C. also sing a version, with the lyrics changed to: "No one knows us, we don't care."

Lyrics

No one likes us, no one likes us
No one likes us, we don't care!

We are Millwall, super Millwall
We are Millwall from The Den!

External links

• The Beginning of No One Likes Us
• A city above suspicion: Rod Liddle