An overwhelming response to the survey put out on the site a few weeks ago. I was completely inundated with constant emails, wishing at times I hadn’t started the survey but it made such interesting reading that it was worth it in the end. Anyway, here are the results
Question 1 – Which Premier League team do you dislike more than any other?
A fairly obvious question to start of with resulted in a fairly obvious answer from most. By a country mile the winners were Manure with 85% of the vote. Chelski next with 9% and Everton only 4%. Others 2% but how can there be any other?
Question 2 – If this team was playing Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final, who would you want to win?
Good to see that there was very little of that very annoying attitude “I want all the British teams to win” as 93% selected Barcelona to win. Of the remainder there were 4% who chose Chelski but absolutely nobody chose Manure over the Germans – well done everyone!
Question 3 – Which is your 2nd most disliked Premier League team?
Obviously Manure couldn’t win this one as well but it was no surprise that Chelski won this one with 59%, Everton 2nd with 20%, Manure next with 14% (I don’t think a single person didn’t choose them as 1st or 2nd most disliked). Arsenal got 5% of the vote (memories of 1989 no doubt) and bizarrely Stoke City got 2%!
Question 4 – What overseas club side do you dislike more than any other?
The Galacticos of Real Madrid are the European side we apparently dislike the most with 26%. AC Milan received 13%, Juventus 10% and then quite a few with similar scores such as Inter, Galatasaray, Roma and surprisingly Barcelona (maybe they voted before 27th May as surely we all love them now!)
There were a number of teams with just one vote in this category too such as those European giants AIK Solna and Rapid Vienna!
Question 5 – If you had to support another team in the Premier League who would it be?
A few people refused to give an answer to this question which kind of missed the point a little. Obviously none of us would relish supporting another team and those that did answer mostly went for Arsenal (24%), West Ham (20%), or Newcastle (15%). There were also a few votes for Aston Villa, Man City and Fulham and then right at the bottom one single solitary vote for Everton. Thankfully none for Manure or I think I might have had to reply with a warrant for their arrest
Question 6 – Who is the best current Liverpool player?
Was this ever in doubt. 83% voted for our captain, Steven Gerrard. So one-sided was this that 7% seems rather cruel for a world class player like Torres. Next was Carragher on 4% and then a few votes for Alonso, Mascherano and one Benayoun (probably for his great 2nd half of the season and fair play to him)
Question 7 – Who is the best all-time Liverpool player?
I wasn’t entirely sure how this one would go but by quite a comfortable margin is Kenny Dalglish with 57%, Gerrard next with 26% and then Ian Rush with 13%. There were also votes for Robbie Fowler and Steve Heighway but not a single one for Michael Owen – how quickly we forget or is it a matter of how annoyed were we when he left?
Question 8 – Who is your all-time favourite non-Liverpool player? (i.e. has never played for Liverpool)
I disregarded the rather strange and inaccurate answer of Brad Friedel but apart from that the answers were on the whole pretty varied. Zinedine Zidane was top with 23%, Thierry Henry and that cheating little Argie whose name I forget both got 12%. 9% understandably went for Dennis Bergkamp and then astonishingly 7% voted for Ryan Giggs!!! He was actually ahead of Messi and Kaka who both got around 4%. Other more amusing answers with just a solitary vote were Davor Suker, Marc Janko and someone clearly having a laugh voted for Didier Drogba!
Question 9 – Which would you choose – England winning the World Cup or Liverpool winning the Premier League?
Now I don’t know if it’s because we’ve been waiting 19 years already or the fact that we’d have to watch Rooney, Ferdinand, Carrick et al lifting the World Cup but there were only 4% of votes cast in favour of England winning the World Cup. 96% of us would rather Liverpool won the Premier League.
Question 10 – Which current Premier League player would you most like Liverpool to sign?
Clearly able to control their anger with a secret admiration of watching him score 4 past us saw 18% of people vote for Andrei Arshavin. Clearly thinking of our need for more wide players meant that 13% voted for Ashley Young and 11% perhaps in dreamland voting for the wonderful Cesc Fabregas. Imagine that with Gerrard in the middle! 9% of Liverpool fans are clearly insane and voted for the diving, cheating pansy who wears Number 7 for Manure – I can’t even bear to type him name. More rationale people (7% to be exact) voted for Aaron Lennon and then there was a few players around 4-5% such as Tevez, Essien, Robinho and Rooney!!! (I shake my head in disbelief). Other players with only 1 vote included Michael Owen and that same joker once again voting for Didier Drogba
Question 11 – Which overseas player would you most like Liverpool to sign?
Fantasyland here for some, a little more realism from others but the question didn’t have a budget restriction so fair game. A massive 40% went for everyone’s current hero, that destroyer of nightmares, Lionel Messi. 14% went for David Villa, 9% for Frank Ribery from Bayern and then with 7% each was Kaka (no chance) and David Silva (just possibly if you believe the Mirror). A whole host of Barcelona players made up much of the rest of the list with Henry, Eto’o, Iniesta and Xavi.
Question 12 – If Rafa left Liverpool, who would you choose to be the next manager?
Controversial this one and the two men battling it out for top spot were an all time hero and one of our biggest adversaries. Somewhat surprising by the amount of votes was Jose Mourinho with 33% beating Kenny Dalglish into 2nd place with 26%. The very respectable Guus Hiddink was in 3rd place with 16% and then another hero of the moment with 5% was Pep Guardiola. Others with just 1 vote were Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, David Moyes and even Sven Goran Ericsson!!! I actually got one vote for myself (that was from my son). I don’t know if that’s more or less ridiculous than the Sven Goran Ericsson answer.
Question 13 – What is the best away stadium in England you have visited?
Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is considered the best by Liverpool fans with 33% of votes cast. Those who haven’t traveled far enough mysteriously considered that the Theatre of Silence at Old Trafford to be next best with 25%. In 3rd place with 11% came Villa Park and then with a few votes each came St James’ Park, Newcastle, Stamford Bridge, City of Manchester Stadium and Wembley.
Question 14 – What is the best non-English stadium you have visited?
With a resounding victory for its atmosphere or architecture or sheer size came Barcelona’s Camp Nou with 30%. Next came 3 stadia all with the same number of votes giving 9% each; Real Madrid’s Bernabeu, The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Dublin’s Croke Park. Slightly behind these were perhaps the more impressive San Siro in Milan and Celtic Park. Solitary votes were cast for the Maracana in Rio and that obvious football cathedral the Red Bull stadium in Salzburg, Austria where numerous key Austrian cup finals have been played. Probably!
Question 15 – Which team’s fans are best when they visit Anfield?
Clearly having seen some incredible games over the years, Newcastle’s fans are clearly warmly welcomed at Anfield (apart from next season at least) with 31% of votes. Maybe a little surprisingly second came Arsenal with 11% and then West Ham, Aston Villa and Portsmouth, all with around 8%. With just under 6% came Celtic and Hull City and then with just solitary votes came the likes of Barcelona, Athletico Madrid and even Everton.
Question 16 – What is your most memorable Liverpool game?
No shocks here. With a massive 64% came the 2005 Champions League Final in Istanbul which will obviously live in the memory for a long time. With 7% next came the recent 4-1 thrashing of Manure at Old Trafford followed very closely by the first of the 4-3 encounters with Newcastle at Anfield which was believe it or not 13 years ago. Others with a few votes were the obvious game against Olympiakos in the Champions League in 2004, the second leg against St Etienne in 1977, the FA Cup Final vs Everton in 1989 and the Real Madrid games from earlier this year.
Question 17 -Which current Premier League player do you dislike the most?
I wish I could have got odds at the bookies on this question because I’d have put my house on the top answer. Clearly all football fans who appreciate fair play and dignity put that nasty, arrogant Portuguese as their top choice with 60%. Second with 14% came an almost equally unpleasant character in Didier Drogba. Personally I was disappointed that the creature in 3rd place didn’t get more votes as with 7% came Gary Neville, very closely followed by Frank Lampard. Several others with slightly less votes were Wayne Rooney, Joey Barton and Ryan Giggs.
Question 18 – What is the best goal you have seen scored by a Liverpool player?
Steven Gerrard as you might expect featured almost exclusively in this question. With 24% was his goal against West Ham in the 2006 FA Cup Final. Then with 15% came his goal against Olympiakos in 2004. Around 5% came his goal against Manure in the league in 2001/02 along with 2 others around the same figure; Daniel Agger in 2007 against Chelsea in the Champions League and Riise’s free kick against Manure in 2001. However, almost half of the votes were on a range of other goals including votes for Alonso’s 2 staggering long range efforts against Newcastle and Luton in 2006, Alan Kennedy’s against Real Madrid in 1981 and even Fernando Torres for Spain against the Germans last year.
Question 19 – Who is the best Liverpool manager of all time?
Perhaps the thing that shocked me most about these results is that there wasn’t a single vote for Kenny Dalglish, not one. Only 3 managers actually did receive any votes. Top was Shankly with 47%. Second was Paisley with 35% and then Rafa with 18%. I think even Rafa himself would struggle to accept the all-time award just yet though.
Question 20 – Which referee has been worst for Liverpool?
Quite amusingly the winner is not directly who has been the worst for Liverpool but who INDIRECTLY has been the worst by favouring Manure so blatantly. With an amazing 40% came the Mancs favourite dinner guest Mike Riley. With 23% in second place obviously came Rob Styles and then 16% in third place went to Howard Webb. Steve Bennett on 11% was the only other one with substantial votes received. Other nominal votes came in for Mark Clattenburg, Graham Poll and Phil Dowd.
Thank you to all those who voted in the survey and I hope you enjoyed reading how your fellow Liverpool supporters have voted.
Can someone explain Question 2 – If this team was playing Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final, who would you want to win? Who is “this team”?