Yesterday afternoon I went to the County Ground to watch Swindon beat Oldham Atheltic 3-0. The first half was turgid (and cold, so very very cold) but Swindon came to life after the break and scored three quick goals to seal the victory.

However, with a quarter of the match remaining, and Oldham showing no signs of mounting a comeback, the Swindon faithful got a bit bored and did something I haven't seen before.

Oldham's young midfielder, Chris Taylor, had drawn attention to himself by pushing a Swindon player into a goalpost and then entering into a heated discussion with the Swindon fans behind the goal. There followed the usual predictable chants about him being a dirty northern bastard and a robust rendition of "Chris Taylor is a wanker" (which I already had an earworm for after EIM's sickening attack on Malted Milk biscuits last week). However, once the vitriol died down, the home fans started a long and sarcastic chanting of the player's name. "Taaaaaay-lor....Taaaaay-lor" which they maintained until the final whistle. At one point the whole stadium was doing it. I havent' seen the County Ground united in song in this way for about 15 years.

Taylor was obviously upset by this, and managed to get himself booked for shouting at the referee in frustration. Players from both sides were patting him on the bum and telling him to ignore it (I'll give the Swindon players the benefit of the doubt here). but he was clearly affected by it. I've never seen a crowd bully a player in such a way before, and I actually felt sorry for the poor guy - he's only 21 after all. It all reminded me of the episode of the Simpsons where Lisa and Bart taunt Daryl Strawberry with the chant of "Daaaaaryl...Daaaaaaryl..." leading him to wipe away a tear.

Anyway, is the adoption of this chant commonplace in British football grounds and just taken a while to reach Swindon?

Also, this seems as good a place as any for you all to post examples of players being mercilessly bullied, as it will ease my guilty conscience.

The Strawberry chant in the Simpsons was taken from real life, where it was a particular favourite of Red Sox fans during Daryl's time with the Yankees. Strawberry was a tremendously talented player beset by serious personal demons (particularly drugs), but as he came up as the "face" of the sporting institution I hate more than any other in the world (the New York Mets), I am quite proud of the fact that I was able to join in the chant on several occasions. I also know a number of yuppie douchebags who lost thousands of dollars "investing" in Strawberry baseball cards.

Another baseball example is the "Larry" chant directed at Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves by Mets fans. Jones' baptismal name is Larry, but he had evidently devoted a significant part of his life since kindergarten to trying to hide that fact. It didn't work.

Closer to what is currently home, there were at least 60,000 people chanting "Pavel Nedved, son of a whore" at Inter-Juve a few weeks ago (it's catchy in Italian).

A long, long time ago both in years and in terms of footballing fortunes, I got dragged along to Stamford Bridge to see a League Cup tie between Chelsea and Plymouth. This was when Chelsea were, I think, in the Second Division, or at least surefootedly on their way there.

I remember absolutely nothing about the game at all, except that Chelsea lost 2-1, and that Trevor Aylott was in the Blues' line-up. This last detail I remember because he was not popular with the fans at the best of times, and on this occasion he had a particularly poor game. Predictably, as the game wore on, the Chelsea fans were left in no doubt as to who was to blame for the humiliation of a home defeat to Plymouth, and from The Shed rose up a timid cry which gained ever more momentum and eventually reached the proportions of a deafening, to-a-man indictment of one human being's very existence: "Aylott off! Aylott off! Aylott off!"

I will never forget the image of a corner that Plymouth disposed to take at the Shed end. Trevor Aylott had to defend the near post and stood there, abjectly shaking his head in shame and bewilderment. I squirmed in embarrassment for the poor man.

The reception that Michael Laudrup got in May 1995 when he returned to the Nou Camp as a Real Madrid player is supposed to have been fairly special -- in terms of sheer aggressive noisiness, it reportedly outstripped the treatment that Luis Figo received six years later. Barcelona won 1-0.

I went to see Stoke play Hull in about 1993. Stoke had a player called Tony Kelly that they had hilariously paid about £30,000 for from St Albans. He came on as a substitute with about 15 minutes left to a cacophony of booing from the Stoke supporters, mixed with a considerable amount of laughter.

Hated ex-manager's son pitches up playing for opposition. Cue 43 minutes of abuse until the predictable outcome.

Leave him alone, you big bully. I'm in a facebook group for people called Chris Taylor. We have plans. And when our plans unfurl, you'll be sorry you picked on one of ours.

We used to regularly turn the opposition 'keeper in to a wreck in the NWCL. Not so much any more as the players are slightly more used to playing in front of these numbers, but back in the day, well, it got painful to watch sometimes.

When we played Maine Road in the mini-derby at StayleyVegas, their 'keeper was harangued so much, he lost the ability to kick the ball. He had to get outfield players to do it for him. His nerves were shot to pieces.

This pleases me immensely. There's not enough ragging of professional footballers these days, when by rights it should be at its highest ever level.

I'm still immoderately amused by the way Jason Lee blames Baddiel and Skinner for ruining his career, rather than the fact he was rubbish.

This much said, I am a heartless bully.

Big Daves Gussett wrote:

QUOTE:
once the vitriol died down, the home fans started a long and sarcastic chanting of the player's name. "Taaaaaay-lor....Taaaaay-lor" which they maintained until the final whistle. At one point the whole stadium was doing it.

If I had a mobile phone, I'd really, really want this as my ringtone.

Hahaha.

Titus Bramble came off our bench in a game at Anfield to widespread acclaim by the home supporters...

These days a lot of players have a "cannot play for old team in same season clause" in their contract. Mainly for January transfers. Making the heckling of old players more tricky.

Having said that, Barry Roche playing for Chesterfield against Forest last season got some serious stick from the Trent End Boys. He was our bench warming 'keeper for a few previous years.

The fact we won 4-0 did not help his cause, and we kept reminding him of the score as the goals flew in.

Also i much enjoyed chanting "Hasselbaink your f**king w**k" as Forest outplayed and beat 'Premiership' Charlton 2-0 in the FA Cup

Haha. I've been away this weekend and other than the scoreline didn't bother to see what happened against Swindon. Chris Taylor's the most harmless-looking lad you've seen on a pitch -

It all reminded me of the episode of the Simpsons where Lisa and Bart taunt Daryl Strawberry with the chant of "Daaaaaryl...Daaaaaaryl..." leading him to wipe away a tear.

Which, in turn, reminded me of my days in The Loft chanting "Rodneeeee...Rodneeeee...Rodney, Rodney, Rodneeeeee!" Back then it was an endearment rather than an insult of course.

Early 1980s: it can't get much worse than being a Torquay United goalkeeper called Vince, 5-0 down at Sincil Bank, and having the Lincoln fans directly behind you chant ad nauseum, "Vince O'Keefe fucks alsatians, tra la la la la, la la la la."

QUOTE:
Anyway, is the adoption of this chant commonplace in British football grounds and just taken a while to reach Swindon?

I'm not sure if it's commonplace, but they like it at Cambridge United - it's normally used on the opposition goalkeeper when he's defending the Corona Kop (heh) end.