Football Club Nicknames

Ludicrous Nicknames

Wycombe Wanderers (The Chairboys) In The 1980s - Barry Lewis / Flickr.com
There’s no doubt that some clubs have some quite ludicrous and stupid nicknames. Charlton Athletic, for example, are known as ‘The Addicks’. This was a bastardisation of the word ‘haddock’ and was given to them because the ground was built near to a well-known fish and chip shop.
There are a number of clubs that have amusing nicknames because of the industry that was based in the town or city where the club was formed. Take Kidderminster Harriers, as an example. Kidderminster was the home of the modern carpet industry, so the football club took on the nickname of ‘The Carpetmen’. Similarly, Wycombe was the home of the local furniture making industry so Wycombe Wanderers became known as ‘The Chairboys’.
Hartlepool United are the owners of one of the game’s most ridiculous nicknames and accompanying stories. During the Napoleonic War tensions were high in the coastal town of Hartlepool. Suspicion was thrown on anyone that wasn’t immediately recognised by someone who could vouch for them, with the fear being that the slightest mistake could lead to a major advantage in the war being handed to the french. That is the rationale for why the citizens of Hartlepool decided to hang a monkey, believing it to be a French spy. Whether that story is true or not is largely irrelevant - what we do know is that the football team continues to be known as ‘The Monkey Hangers’ to this day.
New Nicknames
As long as football club continue to be formed then they’ll earn themselves a nickname. Sometimes they’ll be obvious, other times they’ll be slightly more obscure and based around something that has happened during the club’s existence.
As an example of the latter reason you can look North of the border to Dundee United. In 1963 the club was gearing up to host a Scottish Cup but the pitch was frozen. The fans decided to spread copious amounts of sand onto the turf in the hope that this would cause the ice to melt but instead it earned them a nickname of ‘The Arabs’. It’s worth noting that this name is specifically in reference to the supporters rather than the football club itself.
Sometimes supporters enjoy the nickname that their club gets given. Sometimes, however, they’re not that interested and the name is used mostly by the press in an attempt to drum up some interest in various stories. That is the case with FC United of Manchester, the club that was formed in 2005 as a reaction to the news of Malcolm Glazer’s takeover of Manchester United. Because it was created by disaffected supporters of the Red Devils, the Manchester Evening News decided to give the club the nickname ‘The Red Rebels’.