Post-transfer window football poll

Laurence Janta-LipinskiAssociate Director
September 10, 2011, 12:41 AM GMT+0

Our poll of British football fans has found that 8 in 10 Blackburn fans would replace Steve Kean as manager, while most Arsenal fans would keep manager Wenger despite most not being happy with the team’s performance this season. Our poll asked fans of premier league clubs how satisfied they were with their manager, their team’s performance this season, and with their team’s dealings during the summer transfer window, among related issues.

  • 81% of Blackburn fans would replace Steve Kean as manager
  • Just 1 in 10 Arsenal fans would replace Wenger as manager
  • Every single one of the 240 Norwich fans we surveyed supported keeping Paul Lambert, the only manager to secure unanimous support
  • Arsenal fans rate their team’s performance this season at just 2.4 out of 10
  • Only Blackburn fans rated their team’s performances this season worse (1.8 out of 10)
  • Fans of the two Manchester Clubs are happy with their progress and optimistic about the season ahead (Man U fans rated their satisfaction level of the team’s performance this season at 9.1 out of 10, while Man City fans scored their team at 9.3)
  • Ashley Young (16%) and Sergio Aguero (13%) are regarded as the best transfers of the summer window, and Joey Barton’s free transfer to QPR seen as the worst (13%)

Performance satisfaction

Dissatisfaction with the manager is not the only thing that the Blackburn fans we spoke to had to complain about – they rated their team’s dealings in this year’s transfer window at just 4 out of 10. Satisfaction levels with their team’s dealings was lower only for Newcastle and Everton fans, while Blackburn fans also rated their performance as the worst in the league (scoring just 1.8 out of 10).

Arsenal’s falling optimism

The poll findings will also make grim reading for Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal board. Accumulating just one point in three games and coming off the back of an 8-2 thumping at the hands of Manchester United, the increase in pessimism for the Arsenal fans we spoke with is clearly evident. In June, a similar poll found that Arsenal fans expected their team to finish 3rd in the league but, off the back of these results and the loss of arguably their two best players, only Everton were perceived to have had a worse transfer window, the average prediction from Arsenal fans is that their team will finish 5th. Despite this however, just 1 in 10 Arsenal fans polled want the board to replace Wenger as manager and they remain relatively satisfied with their transfer dealings (giving their club 5 out of 10).

Good news for Manchester

Fans of the two Manchester clubs have had their optimism solidified by the season’s beginning. Both clubs rate their team’s performances at over 9 out of 10, but it is their satisfaction with the transfer window that could be playing just a large a part in this optimism.

Unsurprisingly, Manchester City fans are most satisfied (8.7 out of 10) with their club’s transfer window dealings, while Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri make up 2nd and 3rd place in our list of the best transfers on the summer window.

Scoring 8.3 out of 10 from fans is Manchester United, which, in Ashley Young, is perceived to have had the best signing of the window. Splitting the two Manchester clubs, however, is Stoke (whose fans rated the team 8.4 out of 10 for its transfer window), who captured the imagination of its fans with the double signing of Tottenham’s Wilson Palacios and Peter Crouch on transfer deadline day.

Support for summer transfer window move

There is also unanimous support among fans of Premier League football teams to move the end of the summer transfer window so that it starts before the season itself begins. 65% of Premier League fans would support bringing the deadline forward, with just 13% opposing the proposal. Support for this is strongest amongst Wigan fans (78%) whilst fans of Tottenham (76%) and Everton (75%) are also strongly in favour of moving the deadline.