Proving that love is blind, fans of Manchester City top the Premier League of dreamers and eternal optimists, according to a national football report launched by Littlewoods Football Pools based on research done in collaboration with the Football Fans Census.
We asked almost 6,000 fans from the 92 Premiership and Football League clubs what their expectations were for their clubs over the next five years;
Statisticians at Footballpools.com ranked each club by comparing fans’ predictions over the next five years with the team’s statistical records over the past five years. The result - the ‘Football Fan-tasy’ report, is an in-depth study covering 10 years, measuring fans’ dreams and expectations against the reality of their clubs’ recent performances on the pitch, to finally uncover which fans live in a world of fantasy and which are shrouded in pessimism.
Separating the rational from the optimists, the report reveals that fans of Manchester City, Hull City, Hartlepool, and Morecambe harbour the most unrealistic hopes in each of the English game’s four divisions.
Factors such as league performances, trophies won, the number of changes in manager and the financial stability of each club were used to benchmark each club.
Manchester City fans were ranked highest in the Premiership “Dreamers Index” – ahead of fans of Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth, who finished second and third respectively.
Despite never winning a trophy in over 30 years and never finishing higher than eighth in the Premiership, City fans expect to win the FA Cup and Carling Cup by the time of the London Olympics.
Everton, Birmingham City and Aston Villa supporters were revealed to have their feet most firmly fixed to the ground. Their expectations closely matched their teams’ achievements on the pitch.
Fans of Fulham and Wigan were the biggest doom merchants in the Premiership, with their feelings of pessimism a result of their clubs’ battles with relegation and managerial changes.
Hull City supporters entertain the most unrealistic hopes and ambitions in the Championship. Despite narrowly avoiding relegation to League One last season, supporters questioned in the report believe they are heading to the Premiership by 2012.
Hartlepool topped League One. Although the club has have never been higher than the third tier of the English league structure in their history, its optimistic followers believe they’re on their way up to the Championship.
Morecambe’s promotion to the Football League after several years in the lower reaches has clearly left fans of the club light-headed. They have lofty expectations of being in League One in five years’ time – an optimistic goal that makes them the biggest dreamers in League Two.
The report also reveals that supporters of northern clubs out-do their southern counterparts when it comes to football fantasies, with northern teams topping each division of the “Dreamers Index”, and southern clubs such as Fulham, Southampton and Bournemouth having a more pessimistic view of their teams’ future.
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‘Football Fan-tasy Report’ 
