Who are the most passionate fans?

This post looks at the most passionate and negative fans in the English Football League! Is your team there?

The drama of a late goal. The memories of a historic cup final win. Your team lifting the Premier League trophy on the final day of the season. Being a Manchester City fan and watching your side win the treble. There’s nothing quite like the taste of success in football. But with winners come losers too. And some fans can definitely handle defeat a little better than others!

But which team’s fans are the most passionate? Who can take the rough with the smooth and still stay positive? And who turns tail and runs at the first sign of trouble? To find out, we analysed 8.5 million tweets sent during the 2022/23 season, to see which teams have the most vocal fans. Using sentiment analysis, we were also able to uncover the teams with the most positive and negative fans too. This is what we found.

Which teams have the most passionate fans?

We measured the teams with the most passionate fans based on the number of tweets sent per 10,000 last season.

Top of the pile is Stockport County, with the passion swirling around the Hatters for the first season back in the football league after an 11-year absence in 22/23. The season ended in heartache for County, losing the play-off final at Wembley but it couldn’t shake the passion from their fans.

Another side with an unexpected, albeit unsuccessful, run to the play-off final is the team with the second most passionate fans, Coventry City. The Sky Blues eventually lost out in the Championship play-off final at Wembley to Luton Town.

Incidentally, Luton are the only current Premier League team in the top 20 for passionate fans. What a season they enjoyed in 22/23, securing their status as a top-flight team for the first time since 1992.

And when we’re talking about England’s topflight, the Premier League is much better represented in the top 20 least passionate sets of fans. In fact, 12 of the 20 teams from the Premier League this season are in the mix.

Whilst it’s no surprise to see Chelsea in at number 2 – their entire 22/23 campaign was all about apathy – it’s interesting to see treble-winning Manchester City at number 3. Could their fans not even stir any passion as Erling Haaland romped to goalscoring record after goalscoring record?

Two of England’s most bitter rivals, Liverpool and Manchester United are also in the top five least passionate fans too. Must try harder!

Which teams have the most positive fans?

Passion is one thing, but which fans exude positivity? Which supporters can see the silver lining even in defeat? We looked at the percentage of positive tweets across the season to find out who are the most positive fans.

Good on you Sutton United fans for keeping the positivity despite a mid-table finish in League Two, with 34% of all tweets having a positive sentiment. And who can be surprised at Leyton Orient fans for staying positive after their League Two championship-winning campaign and 26 wins from 46 league games. They’re second in this table with 34% also.

League Two new boys Wrexham exuded positivity during the 22/23 campaign, with 33% of all tweets being positive. We’re pretty sure we can put this down to the positive impact of their Hollywood owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, and the fact a title-winning season saw them finally get back in the football league after a 15-year wait. Ben Foster in goal-making YouTube videos might have helped a little too. Notts County also brought the same level of positivity as they pushed Wrexham all the way in the National League, also finishing the season promoted to League Two.

Which teams have the most negative fans?

And we see you Spurs. Not even a shiny new stadium, the goals of Harry Kane and Champions League football could hide your negativity with nearly one in five tweets being negative (18%) in the 22/23 campaign. That said, a brooding Antonio Conte, three managers during the season and no sign of Kane signing a new contract can do that to fans.

It’s also no surprise to see the three teams relegated from the Premier League in the top 20 too. Leicester City (16% negative tweets), Leeds United (14%) and Southampton (14%) all had wretched seasons, so maybe you can forgive a little negativity amongst the fans? Everton too are in the mix with 16% negative tweets following a campaign that saw them flirt with relegation right until the death once again.

Second in the list is Watford with 17% negative tweets. The Hornets suffered a dismal season in 22/23 finishing mid-table after their Premier League relegation the year before. Again seeing three different managers in a single campaign will do that to your fans. Just ask Chelsea – their fans couldn’t even muster enough passion to be negative!

Which league has the most passionate fans?

Whilst the Premier League often lays claim to being the best league in the world, it doesn’t have the most passionate fans. That honour is saved for League Two, whilst the most positive fans are those that watch their teams week in week out in League One.

Go on the lower-league fans!

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