Premier League clubs whose fans have worst sense of entitlement

Every sports fan on earth wants their team to win, right? It’s the fabric of being a sports fan, no matter the sport or the country or the team. English football has been around for more than a century, and some teams have been much more successful than others. Fortunes change, teams get relegated, and hearts get broken; some fans expect a little too much from their team. So which clubs’ fans have the worst sense of entitlement? Which fans just know that their club deserves success the most?

1. Chelsea – Has anyone actually met someone who was a Chelsea fan before Abramovich took over? A soccer research firm found that 90% of Chelsea fans in 2006 were not fans of the club in 2003. Fans of the London club take affront daily to accusations that they are bandwagon fans (you’re still a bandwagoner if you joined up in the mid-2000s), yet fans are constantly seen leaving Stamford Bridge early, leaving their club-provided plastic flags behind. Chelsea constantly nicks beloved players from other teams, but when Frank Lampard goes on a short-term loan that was pretty much necessary for his fitness, they lose their minds. Chelsea fans go to Stamford Bridge to be seen, rather than to see an actual match.

2. Arsenal – Gooners stand in a particularly awkward moment in footballing history. Despite its rich history, the club has hovered near the top of the table for a long time. Having come close to glory so many times before falling apart at the seams, long-suffering Arsenal fans have experienced the football emotional rollercoaster. But that same fluctuation is what fuels Arsenal fans’ sense of entitlement: they are wishy-washy about every single aspect of their club. Not even hours will go by between a Gunner professing his love for Arsene Wenger and his desire to see the manager sacked immediately. They’ll beg for big money signings and then whine for the rest of the season when the club’s choice isn’t who they wanted. They also have the worst possible celebrity fan.

3. Manchester United – Well, they travel all the way from London for matches, so they ought to be higher on the table! Glory-hunting fans aside, Manchester United’s success during the Ferguson years has inflated the egos and expectations of United fans the world over. Disturbingly large sections of Old Trafford also tend to go a little too far with their chants; this of course happens at most clubs, but the United faithful seem to pop up in the news for it pretty often. Some fans even have the gall to excuse this behavior, as they childishly think they are entitled to their disgusting chants just because other fans were doing it.

4. Liverpool – History. A word Liverpool fans have been spouting since they left the womb. Liverpool has the richest history in all of England, but as of late they’ve won barely anything. Even the miracle in Istanbul was nearly a decade ago, and is barely relevant to the current iteration of the club. They’ve been humbled by this form to an extent, but Liverpool fans will always be on a perch that even Fergie couldn’t knock them off.

5. Everton – If there’s another club more obsessed with their rivals than Everton, please point it out. Everton fans’ entitlement isn’t so much that they think their club deserves something from everyone else, but rather because they live with a constant chip on their shoulder regarding their Merseyside neighbors. Just as you want to avoid Liverpool fans before they go on about their history, you’ll want to avoid Everton fans complaining about Liverpool on a variety of topics. It’s an underdog who has a sense of entitlement; a team that feels (rightly so) cheated by Liverpool for preventing them from playing in Europe in the mid-80s due to the Heysel tragedy.

6. Tottenham Hotspur – Hot on the heels of Everton in this race (in about the same position as they usually finish in the League), Spurs fans live in a constant obsession with their biggest rivals. Spurs fans are in a lot of ways similar to Arsenal fans (don’t tell either side this), but without the history or reasonable chance of success. Spurs have bursts of success sometimes, but rarely is it sustainable enough to last a full season. And it’s this sense of entitlement among the club supporters that results in fans getting on the back of the managers when results or the way they play football isn’t what they want. Fans of the big clubs hold their breath for matches that decide titles; fans of Tottenham Hotspur consider a North London derby win to be better than a league title. Probably because they know that a win there is the best it will ever get for them.

7. Manchester City – Most fans of City are pretty passionate…until something better comes along. While Chelsea and Manchester United are still the ultimate bandwagon clubs, Manchester City’s oil money-soaked success in the league in the past few years has brought in its fair share of leeches who now have a sense of entitlement that they should be winning the league every year. While the fans are quite annoying about it, the club’s lack of history and most fans’ lack of knowledge about it keep them from getting too insufferable. If the club’s recent success continues, Manchester City may just end up with more London-based fans than their United rivals.

8. Newcastle United – Another club with a rich history, Newcastle United fans live in a world where their history is actually their present, and that they still think they can reach the meteoric level of football courtesy of ex-manager Kevin “I would love it” Keegan from 1996. With some of the biggest crowds in the Premier League, they expect the club to compete every year, and these unreasonable expectations generally end with vitriolic responses to the manager, owner, players, or police horses. Geordies are passionate and dedicated to their club, and their wit is on par with the best in the country. If they’d just calm down, put a shirt on, and have a reasonable discussion about their clubs fortunes, they’d be much better off.

Honorable Mention: West Ham United – Many fans of the Hammers still live in the 1960s or 1970s where they still think their academy is the best in the country, their players can help England win another World Cup and they play a beautiful style of football by passing the ball on the ground while other teams hoof the ball up the pitch. Wake up West Ham fans, it’s 2014! West Ham United supporters are living in the past as many of them think their club should be managed by a top name instead of the hard graft of Sam Allardyce.