Wednesday’s Echo reported that Virgil van Dijk will not be fazed by the crowd reaction when he comes back to St Mary’s on Sunday.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for me. For the third year running, having paid £36 to attend the game (via my season ticket) I will not be there because I am not willing to listen to songs that include the most foul swear word – the ‘C’ word – directed at Liverpool players.

The ‘F’ word is now common in everyday language, but as yet, the use of the ‘C’ word is still not acceptable, except, it would seem, at St Mary’s.

I have written to the club in the past asking them to take action against the Northam End in particular, where hundreds of fans will sing such songs while stewards and the police stand watching them.

I received a reply saying they would refer the matter to the stadium manager, who has clearly done nothing.

It’s ironic that there are messages on the scoreboard at every game, exhorting the crowd to ‘help us stamp out abuse and discrimination’ with a number to text.

So if the man in the seat behind me yells the ‘C’ word at a player or official, I can report it and action will be taken against him.

Yet when hundreds do the same, en masse, the club is unwilling to act.

If they wrote to all ticket holders in the Northam Stand two weeks before the game, warning that if the song is heard, the whole end will be cleared, I can promise they would only have to clear that stand once, and they would stamp out this abuse.

It is shameful that while racist and homophobic abuse is rightly no longer tolerated in football grounds, the most vile, disgusting swear word is acceptable in what purports to be a family-friendly club.

When the parents of small children are desperately trying to think of a rhyming word so they can substitute it when their children ask what the crowd is singing, we have reached a new low.

Siobhan O’Rourke

Netley Abbey