Fan-tasy League

I will be administering a Fantasy League this season, and it was interesting to note on the main website the number of players claiming to support each of the Premiership teams. With over 300,000 people taking part, it is certainly a statistically significant enough sample from which to draw some conclusions (not all of which are reassuring from Charlton's point of view). Moreover, these stats may be more meaningful than looking solely at actual attendances because they are distorted by factors such as pricing, capacity, stadium quality etc..

As might be expected, Man Utd and Liverpool are way out in front with 24.3% and 21.4% of the total respectively. Given that this is a global competition with 25% of players based outside of the UK, their well-known pool of foreign supporters will have boosted their totals even more.

In third place are Arsenal (14.7%) followed by Chelsea (9.2%). I think it is fair to say that both clubs have developed strong fan bases over the past decade particularly, but neither can be described as a global 'giant' like their Northern peers. Indeed, some Tottenham fans insist their club has far greater depths of support (but haven't had a team to match either for some time), and this is not necessarily a view I disagree with (though they come fifth here with 6.7%).

In sixth place are Newcastle with 5.0%. Although the size and patience of their home support is rightly lauded, they benefit from being a one-club city and thus their support is overwhelmingly North-East based. You don't see many Newcastle shirts in Thailand or Singapore.

Interestingly perhaps, West Ham are the 7th most popular with 2.9%. Although their form has been decidedly up and down during the past decade, it is hard to overestimate the importance that a sustained period of top flight football (as well as the occasional trophy) can have in terms of building a genuine solid base of support.

Although Charlton were undeniably a 'big club' in the 1940s/1950s, the club's mismanagement in the 1960s/70s/80s did untold damage in this regard. It is worth noting (and perhaps a little surprising) that West Ham had just six seasons outside of the top flight between 1958 and 2003, winning the FA Cup three times and the Cup Winners Cup during this period.

The next three clubs (Everton, Aston Villa, Man City) might all reasonably be described as 'sleeping giants' who retain strong support bases despite a paucity of trophies during the past two decades. The likes of Randy Lerner may be overestimating their ability to close the gap upon the top four clubs, such has been the inequality of revenues in recent seasons however.

Blackburn come next with just 1.3% of the total. Although the club (and the town) benefited greatly from Jack Walker's millions in the early-1990s, they have maintained higher support levels than might be expected perhaps given they have been relegated once since claiming the 1995 Premiership title. Like Charlton, they were a near-permanent fixture in the League's second-tier in the 1960s and 1970s, but did not suffer the indignity of seven years of homelessness thus maintaining the core support that returned in droves when success returned.

The remaining nine clubs might all be considered to be 'fighting above their weight' in large part due either to wealthy benefactors (Wigan, Fulham, Reading) or just general good all-round management (Bolton, Charlton). Some Teesiders like to view Middlesbrough as a 'big club' but the truth is somewhat different, evidenced by their lack of any major trophy until 2004.

Unfortunately Charlton trail in a rather sad last with just 0.6% of all Fantasy League participants expressing their support for the Addicks. Whilst this is not a complete surprise, one might reasonably have expected to have been more popular than Watford, Fulham and certainly Wigan. What conclusions can be drawn from this?:

Perhaps Charlton fans like to keep their devotion secret, a little like the masons? Perhaps all of those happy-clappy fans at the Valley for home games really are just Arsenal and Chelsea fans priced out of their own stadiums? Perhaps Charlton fans realise the spuriousness of Fantasy League, with the winner always being both the luckiest participant as well as the one with the most time on his/her hands? Or perhaps most seriously, we are just not very well supported. The passion and devotion of those who are 'Addickted' is as strong as at any club in the land, there just aren't that many of us.

Although many point to the period away from the Valley when explaining this phenomenon, in truth the damage was done as soon as we were relegated from the top flight in 1957. The club's mismanagement culminated in the move to Selhurst Park, but it had begun three decades earlier. Whilst some with a soft spot for the club have returned, and whilst others have been successfully 'converted' (and are as committed as any of us longstanding sufferers), we lost the favour of countless thousands of potential fans.

It would have been interesting to know where the club would be today if Lennie Lawrence had led us out in the old First Division at The Valley in Aug 1986 instead of Selhurst Park. I suspect in truth that the club was in such dire straits that it needed to take several steps back in order to begin to move forward again.

If it took us three decades to completely lose one of the most solid support bases in the country, it might take just as long to claim it back. Valley Express initiatives are welcome of course, but what we probably just need is the passage of time and continued onfield productivity with highly limited resources. When the current generation of South-East London 10-year olds become adults having (hopefully) spent their entire football-watching lives proud to support Charlton, (rather than like me, somewhat embarrassed at times), then we should begin to see real evidence that we have come full-circle.