Prawn sandwich brigade is a term that describes corporate or otherwise emotionally detached football fans who attend matches primarily to enjoy corporate hospitality, rather than support a team. In this sense, "brigade

Brigade (pejorative)

The word brigade, originally used to describe a military unit, can also be used as a pejorative collective noun to describe an informal group of like-minded individuals with views with which the speaker disagrees...

" is used pejorative

Pejorative

Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...

ly.

The term originated from a media comment by Manchester United captain Roy Keane

Roy Keane

Roy Maurice Keane is an Irish former footballer and manager. In his 18-year playing career, he played for Cobh Ramblers in the League of Ireland, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, before ending his career at Celtic in Scotland....

 who felt certain sections of the crowd had not been vocal enough in their support, and at times too quick to criticise minor mistakes, during the Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 game against Dinamo Kiev in November 2000:
The term is often attributed to a direct Keane quote; in fact the term originated in the print media in reaction to Keane's comments.

The fictional 2009 film The Damned United

The Damned United

The Damned United is a 2009 British sports drama film directed by Tom Hooper and adapted by Peter Morgan from David Peace's bestselling novel The Damned Utd, a largely fictional book based on the author's interpretation of Brian Clough's tenure as manager of Leeds United...

, depicts Brian Clough

Brian Clough

Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. He is most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. His achievement of winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, a traditionally moderate provincial English club, is considered to be...

 castigating the directors of Derby County F.C.

Derby County F.C.

Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

for luxuriating in corporate hospitality suites with "prawn sandwiches", but failing to understand the game of football. The scene is set in 1973, but Clough's tirade in the film was probably inspired by Roy Keane's comments of 2000.