Light-hearted teasing is the heart of football fans, especially in England, be it playful chants or back-and-forth jokes, the banter is what keeps the fun alive.
Birmingham City has a long running tradition of shouting “WHO?” and “WHO ARE YA?” every time a substitution for the opposition team has been made.
The stadium announcer for the Bluenoses made the headlines recently after she jokingly mispronounced the names of Norwich City’s players during a substitution.
The moment occurred during the 73rd minute of the match where the scoreline was already 4-1, Norwich manager Phillipe Clement decided to bring Oscar Schwaratu off the pitch and replace him with Forson Amankwah, their names which the stadium announcer, then mispronounced to keep the matchday tradition alive at the St. Andrews Stadium.
She's picking it up nicely 😏👏🏼#bcfc pic.twitter.com/f9RF2Ih8DD
— blues extra. (@BloozEXTRA) November 27, 2025
The moment did not sit well with rival fans online with many throwing racism and xenophobic accusations towards the club and the announcer calling the antics disrespectful and cringe.
The Brummers’ fans defended their club online by disregarding the accusations and calling the alleged ‘antics’, a tradition that has been done and accepted by English football fans across the country and its many tiers.
Good to see Birmingham hiring racists to deliberately mispronounce African players names to keep their racist fan base happy. What a lovely football club! #bcfc https://t.co/Vh1NMbSfWu
— Alex (@yesreallyitsme) November 27, 2025
The Origin
The origin of this tradition takes us back to the days of musician Ian Danter as the stadium announcer for the Bluenoses who very well may have ignited this fire. Danter used to take a momentary pause to announce the names for the home substitutions to allow both players, one replacing the other, to have a moment for themselves as the supporters in the stands loudly applauded for them.
Danter started doing the same for the opposition substitutions out of pure muscle memory, with the Bluenoses quickly catching on to the split second opportunity of shouting “WHO?” during that brief moment of silence.
What started off as a mistake quickly became a regular matchday tradition for Birmingham fans with the most notable moment being on October 12, 1999, during the League Cup (known as the Worthington Cup then) Third Round fixture between Birmingham City and Newcastle United managed by English football icon Sir Bobby Robson.
The Geordies lost 2-0 with star striker Alan Shearer failing to get his name on the scoresheet as he saw his penalty get saved by Ian Bennett. Things took an opposite turn on the other end as Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given was sent off for a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity in the penalty box, resulting in a spot kick which saw the hosts go 1-0 up.
Newcastle’s then goalkeeper Shay Given was sent off after a reckless challenge in the penalty box which resulted in a spot kick that saw the hosts go 1-0 up after the exact opposite happened in the other as the Geordies’ star striker Alan Shearer saw his penalty get saved by Birmingham’s goalkeeper Ian Bennett. The Bluenoses were more than ready to grab their eagerly awaited moment as the now Premier League’s all time top scorer was substituted off the pitch.
Danter gave the newly renovated St. Andrews Stadium, a brief moment to do their magic, and magic they did, with almost 29,000 fans (record capacity at that time) shouted “WHO?”, as the Bluenoses celebrated their victory.
Birmingham City would go on to lose in the next round of the League Cup to West Ham United thanks to a winner by then rookie and now England-Chelsea legend Joe Cole.
Danter now works with talkSPORT as a commentator having now been replaced by Lara Davies as the new Birmingham City stadium announcer, who drew plenty of attention after the events that followed during Norwich City’s Matchweek 16 visit to St. Andrews Stadium in the EFL Championship.
The hosts sit at 9th position in the Championship table while the Canaries continue to suffer just a couple of seasons after getting relegated from the Premier League as they have the lowest positive points in the entire second tier, with Sheffield Wednesday currently at -4 points after they had 12 points deducted.
A tradition or a bigger problem? Let us know in the comments down below.
