Rochdale fans top suffering league

Rochdale fans have followed their club through thin and thinner, since the 1888 start of the Football League, but Manchester United fans don’t know what “suffering” means say the authors of a study commissioned by the makers of Warren United a new animated sitcom, starting 22 April on ITV4, about a long-suffering fan of a chronically struggling football club. 

The show’s producers commissioned statisticians at the English National Football Archive (ENFA) to compile a “Long-Suffering Fan Index”. ENFA crunched data from 220,000 match results since the first Football League season in 1888-9 to rank the current 92 Football League clubs by their lack of success, weighted by extra factors including the size of their average home crowds.

ENSA’S “Suffering Index” therefore also marks 125 seasons since the Football League’s birth – and 150 since the launch of The FA and the birth of modern football.

“Football is supposed to be the ‘glory game’”, says Simon Nye, lead writer of Warren United, whose many past credits include Men Behaving Badly. “But for most fans it’s more about grief, pain and chronic disappointment.” Supporting Brainsford, the fictional team in Warren United, brings its hero Warren more grief than glory. “But that’s what makes him a true fan.”

Rochdalel top ENFA’s suffering table with a “Long-Suffering Fan Index” of 66.12, ahead of Hartlepool United in second with 64.72, and Exeter City in third, with 64.08. Manchester United, by comparison, prop up the table with just 21.31.

The Dale has spent more seasons in the bottom flight of English football (78 including this season) than any other team. Indeed, during its 36-year unbroken residence in the football’s basement from 1974-2010 fans of other clubs began to refer to League Two as ‘the Rochdale division’.

Dale also has the lowest average league placing of any in the Football League – 76th. While the fictional Brainsford United has at least won one trophy in its time – the lesser-known Cooperative Tarpaulins Cup – Rochdale has not won a football competition since joining the Football League in 1921.

“Rochdale fans have followed their club through thin and thinner”, says Nye.

Even Bill Shankly, the legendary manager of Liverpool, took a dig at Rochdale when he exclaimed, “Of course, I didn’t take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.”

The mockers were briefly silenced when the Dale gained promotion to League One four years ago, but sadly for the club’s fans the club’s stay at such heights was short-lived, lasting just two seasons.

In compiling their index of fan suffering, ENFA’s statisticians factored in data on everything from domestic league and cup honours won (giving different weightings according to the importance of the competition) to average league position, promotion and relegation, and progress each season in the FA Cup.

They also weighted the results according to average home attendances, so that the index was not merely a measure of on-field success or lack of it.

European competitions, however, were not included – some comfort perhaps for Rochdale fans, who still await the day when their club takes the field against the elite of Europe.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Manchester United’s bulging trophy cabinet means that its fans have the smallest suffering score, narrowly ahead of Liverpool . Then come a trio of London clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.

Ironically, Rochdale fans are, at least for now, far happier than those of mighty Manchester United. While United toil this season under new manager David Moyes, Dale are looking good for promotion from League Two.

This provides proof, if needed, that even the longest-suffering football fans can still dream of better days to come, when the wilderness years will finally be over.

Table: The 10 Clubs With The Longest-Suffering Fans

Rank Club Fan Suffering Index
1 Rochdale AFC 66.12
2 Hartlepool United 64.72
3 Exeter City 64.08
4 Newport County 65.53
5 Colchester United (top in League One) 63.39
6 Southend United 63.12
7 Torquay United 62.96
8 Mansfield Town 62.90
9 Leyton Orient (top in London) 62.83
10 AFC Wimbledon 62.45

10 LEAST Long-Suffering Fans, With The Lowest Suffering Index

Rank Club Fan Suffering Index
1 Manchester United 21.31
2 Liverpool 21.97
3 Arsenal 30.22
4 Chelsea 31.46
5 Tottenham Hotspur 32.44
6 Aston Villa 37.11
7 Leeds United 37.75
8 Everton 39.28
9 Manchester City 40.57
10 Newcastle United 41.27

• Longest-Suffering Fans In Each Division
• Premiership: Stoke City (Fan Suffering Index: 54.72; national rank: 43)
• Championship: Bournemouth FC (Fan Suffering Index: 60.26; national rank: 23)
• League One: Colchester FC (Fan Suffering Index: 63.39; national rank: 5)
• League Two: Rochdale AFC (Fan Suffering Index: 66.12; national rank: 1)