Get off you filthy manc ****warbler! And have you noticed, on the rare occasions that

[Burney]

And not much different here either - outside of the football realm. It has a particular appeal to football supporters, often tongue in cheek, but it is a word rarely used outside of that sub-culture in my experience.

Hockey players, as an example, would not be caught dead using it. Same applies to cricketers, I think.

Eh? I can assure you I've been called a **** more times while playing cricket than in virtually any other milieu.