Manchester United claimed a hard-fought three points away to Southampton on Saturday evening with a 1-0 win, and while the performances on the pitch were not up to the high standard that has been set so far this season, the club were very upset by the performance of the travelling fans.
For as much as Old Trafford can suffer from a lack of atmosphere on a Saturday at 3pm, there's no questioning that those who follow United around England to away rarely go unheard as they belt out their repertoire of songs about the clubs and its players, but with the controversy surrounding the new Romelu Lukaku chant that has been described as 'racist', the club were hoping they would leave that out.
To the surprise of very few, as Romelu Lukaku scored the game's only goal in the first-half, the chant that both the club and the player himself had asked them not to sing could be clearly heard from the away end, followed by a rousing rendition of:
We're Man Utd, we'll sing what we want.
Well, it seems that if you want to sing that chant, you won't be doing it in Premier League grounds any time soon as the club have since revealed that they will be examining CCTV footage along with the police to punish those who took part.
A statement released not too long after the final whistle at St.Mary's made it very clear how the club feels about the chant.
Manchester United has a zero tolerance stance on offensive chanting and behaviour.
The club and player have been clear in asking for an end to the chant.
The club has worked with relevant bodies and supporters groups in trying to eradicate any offensive behaviour and will take further action against individuals if this continues.
The club in discussion with the police and has asked for CCTV footage from Southampton and will try to identify those who disrespected the player's wishes not to sing the song.
Football fans, particularly those passionate enough to follow their team around the country, typically don't react well to being told what to do, but you would have thought that Lukaku himself requesting to cease singing the song would have been enough.
From the club's perspective, regardless of whether or not you feel the chant is offensive, it's easy to see why they want to distance themselves from it, but clearly the fans who sang it did not realise how firm a stance the club would take.
Man Utd play CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday night, and after this statement it is highly unlikely that the chant will be heard, but if Lukaku scores on United's next away trip - at Anfield on October 14th - we'll see how seriously the away fans are taking this warning.
