Will Grigg, despite not playing a game of football in the last month, is very much on fire.
By now, we don’t need to spend the next couple of paragraphs explaining what we’re on about. That bloody song, as catchy as it may be, has been almost impossible to get away from in the last few weeks.
With Northern Ireland fans chanting it repeatedly on their Euro 2016 adventure over in France, the song has swept the entire continent. Most people will tell you that the supporter’s of Grigg’s club, Wigan Athletic, a responsible for this witty reworking of Gala’s 90s hit ‘Freed from Desire’… but that’s not *completely* true is it, Newcastle United supporters?
A close examination of social media reveals that Newcastle fans did indeed use Freed from Desire to create their own tribute to Serbian frontman, Aleksander Mitrovic. There’s even footage of a bunch of Geordies belting the ‘original’ version out that was uploaded to YouTube back in February, long before ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’ ignited (see what we did there?).
Losing their Premier League status was bad enough, but having to watch another club steal ‘their’ chant and then become widely congratulated for it is enough to make any Newcastle fan cry enough tears to full up one of those large Sports Direct mugs.
As you’d expect, they’re keen to point out that they were the original creators of the <insert footballer’s name here> chant…
Cannot actually believe that Wigan, WIGAN of all the irrelevant teams, stole the 'Mitro's on fire' chant. Now everyone's using it. Fuming.
— Sandy. (@Sandy_Duncanson) May 17, 2016
When you realise 'Mitro's on Fire' actually was started before 'Will Grigg's on Fire' 😳 #NUFC #WAFC
— Mitch (@Mitch_GB_17) June 21, 2016
'Hotter than Mitrovic' .. this is a knock off! #MitrosOnFire. Will Grigg is 12 months late! #NotBitter #ToonArmy https://t.co/acwDHulv7L
— Mitch Barratt (@mitchbarratt7) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/CrosierDavid/status/744946194011594753
Some fans are even looking at the arguments that may lie ahead….
Early shout out to all the ignoramuses (ignorami?) next season complaining about #NUFC fans nicking the Will Grigg song for Mitrovic
— ◼️◻️◼️◻️🐷➡️💰💰💰⚽🕺 (@billyjoelismint) June 16, 2016
And you have to feel sorry for this man who had his big night out utterly destroyed by a group of other misinformed partygoers.
In a bar where the DJ is blasting out the Mitro's on fire song and everyone's singing the Will Grigg version and it's just not right. #NUFC
— Marley Anderson (@91Marley) June 11, 2016
It's Mitro's on Fire. Fuck off Will Grigg.
— Yorkshire. (@Yorkshire_Mag) June 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/AndyDaly141/status/741675869303930885
https://twitter.com/stuartangus2012/status/745311299597381632
So don’t worry Newcastle fans, we’ve got your back. We don’t mind shaming a bunch of football fans for ‘stealing’ a chant devised by another bunch of supporters. You’d never catch your lot doing that, would you?
But wait…
May I just remind all football fans that watmore was on fire before Will Grigg, mitro and Vardy 🙂
— Daniel Kelly (@SafcKelly) June 16, 2016
Wigan fans say England stole Will Grigg song for "Vardy's on fire", Colleague says Stevenage FC created it for Luke Freeman. #Euro2016
— David Brown (@DavidhBrown) June 20, 2016
https://twitter.com/jrhz23_/status/736609582009749504
Don’t expect this feud to extinguish any time soon.