Saturday’s results finally mean we can stop looking at the league table.
So time to put together an alternative league table – the fan satisfaction table.
Choosing the happiest fans and the unhappiest fans is very straightforward and matches the real table. But other than Leicester City and Aston Villa, how do we rank the fans happiness?
The “Beyond ecstatic” group
- Leicester City
You may have read about Leicester in the last week. They’ve done okay.
Local Leicester MP even wore a Foxes scarf in Parliament this week. I’ll let you decide if he is a true believer or a bandwagon chasing publicity seeker.
Next up – the “Pretty darned chuffed and positive about the future” group
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Liverpool
- West Ham United
Spurs have had a couple of poor games but with a young side and an excellent manager, and if the top sides don’t sort themselves out they are very well-positioned to win the league next year.
Jurgen Klopp has re-energised Anfield and engaged with the fans brilliantly. The league form has been good but not great, but the Europa League run has been a triumph.
West Ham have a nice new ground to play in next year and a half decent side. More fans will get to watch them next year – the potential to get bigger is there, even if it hard to imagine West Ham as a Champions League side
Next group – the “can’t help a tiny club like us found the Premier League so easy” group:
- Bournemouth
Other than the opening day against Villa, Bournemouth never looked like going down and rather like Leicester did, exposed many Premier League sides as a bunch of charlatans. They didn’t need to take Glenn off us though.
Next – the “doing pretty nicely” sides
- Southampton
- Stoke City
This is the dullest section. The fans must be pretty happy and there seems to be no reason why they shouldn’t be fine again next year. The worst that can happen is that the club sells all the star players before the new manager arrives, but Southampton already did that with Koeman.
Next – the “bit moany but pretty happy” group
- Swansea City
- Palace
- Watford
The three sides in this section have had both ups and downs through the season, but overall can be fairly happy with their seasons.
Swansea lead the group because of their better league form, and Palace edge Watford because when it matters, we seem to beat them …. and because it seems odd (and it may not be true) that Watford are letting yet another successful manager go.
Next – “temporary ecstasy”
- Sunderland
They keep surviving the drop, just, but this time Big Sam’s commitment to the cause gives fans hope that they might avoid the annual relegation campaign next year
Next up – the “not angry enough” group. This isn’t North Korea you know.
- Manchester City
- Chelsea
- Manchester United
I respect that in a pretty appalling season for these clubs, the fans have stayed pretty loyal, but given the unbelievable advantages the owners riches give the clubs, surely they fans should grow some.
Next – “Upset but realistic”
- Norwich City
It is always tough for the play-off winners but they have a good young manager, sensible owners and a squad that are well placed to ‘do a Burnley’ next season. If Norwich lose Nathan Redmond on the way, preferably to a club in London SE25 with a much nicer kit, while still getting promoted, I hope the fans won’t mind.
Next – on “the verge of losing it” group
- West Bromwich Albion
- Everton
Fans of these clubs seem to be more unhappy than most. Pulis has worked his relegation-avoiding powers once again, but West Brom should be better than that. Sometimes the club and manager combination just doesn’t seem right – Allardyce wasn’t suited to Newcastle United or West Ham but is suited to Sunderland, and the fans have worked that out before the board has.
Everton and Roberto Martinez did seem a great combination but the season has proved desperately disappointing – they could have been Leicester this season with the squad they have had.
Next – the “if you allow Piers Morgan to be your spokesman, you deserve all you get” group.
- Arsenal
And finally – the fans who really don’t deserve their owners
- Newcastle United
- Aston Villa
To be fair to both these sets of fans, and especially Villa’s in recent weeks, there has been some commendable gallows humour on display. It is a remarkable achievement for clubs with impressive financial resources and history to perform this badly. To lose the fans along the way juts makes it worse.
