Villans, Cherries, Toffees and Tractor Boys: The origins of English football club nicknames (2024)

What’s in a nickname? That is a question The Athletic will be answering this week as we trace the origins of football clubs’ monikers in England, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the rest of the world.

First up, England…

English football has a rich and varied history when it comes to nicknames, most of which are enthusiastically adopted by clubs and supporters on memorabilia or in terrace chants.

Some are self-explanatory, some came about naturally and others were deliberately engineered, but every Premier League club’s nickname has a tale behind it.

We’ll start with Arsenal, whose nickname of the Gunners actually predates the name of the club; they were called Royal Arsenal (having previously been known as Dial Square and later as Woolwich Arsenal) when they took on the Gunners name — a tribute to the club being formed by a group of 15 workers from the Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich.

Arsenal fans will often refer to themselves as Gooners, of which the origins are less clear. One theory, according to the club website, is that this was a nickname for legendary former manager Herbert Chapman, but perhaps it was just a simple variation of the pronunciation of Gunners. The club began referring to Gooners in the 1960s in their matchday programme.

In a similar manner, Newcastle fans call themselves the Toon Army. If you’re unclear as to why, then just say the word town in a north-east/Geordie accent.

The club’s official nickname is the Magpies, which derives from their famous black and white striped kit that they first wore in 1894, magpies being birds predominantly coloured black and white, of course. The magpie was part of the club’s emblem in the 1970s and 1980s.

Animals feature prominently across English football’s nicknames.

Leicester City had most commonly been referred to as the City until in 1948 they designed a new club crest, featuring the head of a fox. It was based on drawings of a fox killed during a hunt in nearby Atherstone in 1922, with Leicestershire traditionally being an area known for foxhunting.

Leicester’s previous club name — Leicester Fosse — had come with a nickname of the Fossils. Not quite as evocative.

Like Leicester, the local area is the inspiration for Ipswich Town‘s most commonly used nickname. Try to drive around Suffolk for a couple of hours and you’ll be very familiar with its higher proportion of tractors on the roads than in most areas.

A 22-year wait is over

The Tractor Boys are back 🚜
#TheKickOff @edsheeran @IpswichTown pic.twitter.com/mvbcOH3RDT

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 15, 2024

The Tractor Boys is a fairly recent nickname, thought to have started being used commonly in the late 1990s when fans sang “1-0 to the Tractor Boys” in a self-deprecating way in response to chants from opposition supporters about their rural, agricultural heritage. According to a BBC interview with an Ipswich fanzine writer, opinion was said to be split among Ipswich’s players at the time as to whether they liked the ironic name, but it has stuck.

They were formerly known as the Super Blues, which derived from their golden era under Bobby Robson’s management, so perhaps that name will return if Kieran McKenna continues to have success in Suffolk.

Ipswich are also known as the Blues, as are Chelsea. Until the 1950s, Chelsea’s nickname was the Pensioners because of the club’s longstanding association with the Chelsea Hospital, home to British war veterans for many centuries.

The nickname was dispensed with by young, charismatic manager Ted Drake, who wanted to create a more dynamic image for the club — complete with a new, lion-based crest. The Lions wouldn’t have worked as a nickname, though, what with London rivals Millwall already having taken that.

Liverpool are another club who keep it simple with their nickname of the Reds, referencing the colour they have worn since 1896 — the nickname cemented when Bill Shankly changed the team’s kit an all-red one in the mid-1960s.

Like with Chelsea and Liverpool, Manchester United‘s nickname can be related to a legendary former manager, this time Sir Matt Busby.

Busby took inspiration from nearby rugby club Salford, who had toured France in the 1930s wearing red shirts and were dubbed by the French press as les Diables Rouges — the Red Devils.

The club began using a red devil logo in matchday programmes and it was soon incorporated into United’s badge.

Crystal Palace‘s flamboyant former manager Malcolm Allison had big ideas for Palace in the 1970s. They had been known as the Glaziers for decades, because the original Crystal Palace (the huge structure that housed the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851 before moving to a site on Sydenham Hill in south London from 1854) from which the club takes its name was made of glass, and a glazier is someone who works with windows and glass.

Allison wanted something more fearsome, so came up with the Eagles. It was a change that came with a new badge and mascot and, according to the club website, was said to either have been instigated by his team being called Allison’s Eagles or was just nicked from Benfica. He also changed the team’s kit from claret and blue to red and dark blue.

Allison’s decision would also influence the nickname of their rivals, Brighton, who had been previously known as the Seasiders and, briefly, the Dolphins — referencing their coastal location and also a dolphin attraction at Brighton Aquarium — but neither caught on.

Instead, as the legend, outlined here, goes, fans in 1975 would chant “seagulls, seagulls” in response to the Palace cry of “eagles”. You get seagulls by the sea; it’s right, it works.

Forest has been a nickname of Nottingham Forest since the origins of the club back in 1865, when the club played its first matches at Forest Recreation Ground (where the city’s famous annual Goose Fair is held). That area was once the southernmost part of Sherwood Forest, so the nickname stems from there.

The club was founded at a meeting of amateur footballers at what is now the Playwright pub, in Shakespeare Street, and they decided the team colour would be Garibaldi red. Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian freedom fighter and military general, had visited England – and Nottingham – in 1864 and was a hugely popular figure at the time.

This explains two of their other nicknames, the Garibaldis and the Reds. Another, the Tricky Trees, is in reference to their badge, which was designed in the 70s by a graphic designer and lecturer at Nottingham’s College of Art.

Some nicknames are far less commonly known. You don’t hear Tottenham Hotspur referred to as the Lilywhites often — a name that comes from the kit colour they first adopted in 1898. Instead, you’ll generally hear them called Spurs, a shortened version of their name that was inspired by Sir Henry Percy, known as Harry Hotspur, the famous knight from the Middle Ages.

Also rarely heard is the Citizens, one of Manchester City‘s nicknames — a play on the word city — who are generally called City and occasionally the Sky Blues. It’s said that fans would also refer to themselves as the Citizens as a reflection of the club’s traditionally local fanbase as opposed to rivals United, whose supporters would come from far and wide in the 1990s and 2000s. In City’s case that’s far less applicable now.

Fulham were originally nicknamed the Saints when the club was known as Fulham St Andrew’s Church in its early days. When this was shortened to Fulham, that nickname was dropped, and when they moved to a new home at Craven Cottage in 1896, the Cottagers became a logical new nickname. They have also been referred to as the Whites and the Lilywhites.

If Fulham were still known as the Saints, they could have played the holy derby against Southampton, whose nickname stretches back to the founding days of the club when they were originally founded at Southampton St Mary’s church.

Southampton have one nickname, but Aston Villa have three: Villa, the Lions and, most commonly, the Villans. Villa is self-explanatory, coming from the club’s name which came from Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel, where a cricket club started in 1872, followed by the football club.

The club’s badge has featured a lion since 1957 — more specifically the Rampant Lion from the Scottish flag, Scotland being the homeland of two key early club figures William McGregor and George Ramsay.

As for the Villans, this dates back to 1879, said to have been coined by programme editor Jack Urry and was used to describe the club’s supporters. It is often misspelt as villains, but it has nothing to do with treachery.

Bournemouth are not just called the Cherries because of their cherry-red shirts, but also because the club’s stadium, formerly known as Dean Court, was built next to an estate that housed many cherry orchards.

That’s a very deliberate nickname, but Brentford‘s moniker of the Bees came about accidentally.

The story goes that, way back in the late 19th century, a group of fans from Borough Road College would chant “Buck up, B’s” which was the school’s motto, probably referring to Brentford or Borough.

However, this was misinterpreted as the word “bees”. The name has stuck.

Everton are nicknamed the Toffees not because of the sticky situations they tend to find themselves in, but because of the proximity of two local toffee shops near where the club was formed.

West Ham are chiefly known as the Hammers, but this has nothing to do with an extension of the club’s name. It comes from their origins as Thames Ironworks FC in 1895, with the club’s crest featuring two diagonally crossed hammers.

They are also called the Irons, again from the ironworks, and fans have shouted “Come on you Irons” since those very early days.

We started alphabetically with Arsenal and we’ll end the top-flight tour with Wolverhampton Wanderers, inspired by the club’s name.

The city of Wolverhampton is named after landowner Lady Wulfrun, with “wolver” adopted from the English spelling of her name, with wolves being a plural of wolf. Wolves are also known as the Old Gold in reference to the shade of gold the team wore until the 1950s (and again briefly in the early 2000s).

There are hundreds of historic and evocative nicknames across English football’s lower leagues, many of which come from local industries where the clubs are based.

For example, Stoke City are the Potters because of the city’s pottery industry, Sheffield United‘s nickname of the Blades relates to Sheffield’s traditional steel industry, while Crewe Alexandra are known as the Railwaymen. Crewe Works was an important facility in the area, used to help manufacture many renowned locomotives. The town’s railway station is a key gateway to the north and is still pretty big with 12 platforms where you’ll often see train enthusiasts — AKA trainspotters.

Other local industries that have inspired nicknames include silk-making (Macclesfield, the Silkmen), glove-making (Yeovil Town, the Glovers), hat-making (Stockport County and Luton Town, both called the Hatters), iron (Sc*nthorpe United, the Iron), horse-saddle production (Walsall, the Saddlers) and shoemaking (Northampton Town, the Cobblers).

Sheffield Wednesday are called the Owls, but that has nothing to do with birds; it came after the club moved their location to Owlerton in Sheffield.

West Bromwich Albion have not one but two great nicknames. They were mostly known as the Throstles in the club’s early days, throstles being the Black Country word for thrush, a bird that was often seen in the hawthorn bushes from which the ground and the club’s stadium took their name.

They are more commonly called the Baggies, the origins of which are disputed. It is widely thought to come from people who would collect gate money from supporters during matches, carrying large cloth bags to take the money, with people shouting “Here come the bag men” which evolved to “Here come the baggies”. Another theory is many of their supporters wore loose-fitting trousers as they often went to games straight from working in industrial forges and foundries.

Morecambe are known as the Shrimps because of the town’s speciality of potted shrimps, while Southend United are the Shrimpers due to the area’s maritime industry — ditto Grimsby Town: its nickname of the Mariners and a mascot of Harry the Haddock are all related to fishing.

Talking of fishing, we end with one of English football’s greatest nicknames, the Addicks.

That’s Charlton Athletic and it has nothing to do with a crude misspelling of Athletic. Instead, the name is believed to have come about because local fishmonger Arthur Bryan, who sponsored the team, would treat the players to haddock and chips after matches. How do you say haddocks in a thick south London accent? Addicks. Glorious.

(Editor’s note: The Nottingham Forest section of this piece has been updated with additional details)

(Top image: design by Eamonn Dalton)