1/4 of English fans support Chelsea?

Imagine if, in English football, the top team this year (Manchester United) was supported by 1/3 of the population, and the second team (Chelsea) was supported by another ¼. Would that represent a 'fair` or interesting League? Yet that`s the situation in Spain.

Imagine, in addition, that the teams that come below the top 2, say Liverpool and Arsenal, were supported by substantially less. 1/5 of the Chelsea supporters, i.e. 5% of the total.

That part we find attractive, although, for the sake of protecting our ears from the shrill whine which, as we write this, is being generated on Merseyside we should point out that we are merely drawing a hypothetical situation should the imbalance in Spain apply to English football.

A survey of the sporting preferences in Spain, carried out by the Centre for Sociological Studies, has revealed that a mind-boggling 1/3 of Spaniards support Real Madrid, and ¼ support Barçelona. With almost ½ of support covering just 2 teams, there is little left for anyone else: Valencia receive 5,3%, Athletic de Bilbao 5,1%, and Atlético de Madrid 4,3%

For those who complain about the polarisation of the English Premiership, bear in mind, therefore, that it could be worse, and this study of people`s preferences in Spain demonstrate how it could be. In England, it is certainly the case that the 'big 4` (Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool) seem to snaffle the honours, and have spending power above the rest of the Premier League clubs. However, there are a fair smattering of large clubs outside the big 4, such as Spurs or Newcastle, who can also compete (or at least put up a fair fight). Whilst the likes of Sheffield United or Derby County could consider that the odds are very heavily stacked against them, their chance is, at least, sporting.

In Spain, however, the gap between the big 2 and the rest of the Liga is not even a chasm, it`s a gulf. This gap is measured not only in terms of support (as these figures demonstrate) but also in finances: the latest edition of the annual Deloitte and Touche survey of club finances might have put Real Madrid and Barcelona as the two richest clubs in the world (in terms of revenues generated), but Spain had no other clubs in the top 20. That is the measurement of the gulf between Madrid and Barça, on the one hand, and anyone else, on the other. It is such that the two clubs effectively have first refusal on any player in Spain (and much of the rest of the world).

The same Deloitte and Touche survey placed 10 English clubs in the top 20: whilst Manchester United (and Chelsea) are certainly richer than any other club, the gap between them and the rest is not a crushing one if you consider that so many other clubs were listed as having revenues pretty close to Manchester United`s and Chelsea`s If one considered the number of fans supporting Manchester United (a lot) and those that profess to support Liverpool (also quite a few, sadly), well there enough also distributed over the other clubs: Newcastle, Arsenal. Even Chelsea.

However, whilst the idea of such a strong polarisation of fans to two immense clubs is depressing, not to mention the carve-up in cash that gives both of them most of the cake (leaving crumbs for any other club), one has to point out that the oligopoly doesn`t necessarily translate on the pitch and in the table in the same way as it does in England. The top 4 in England have stayed the same for the past 4 years, bar one season when Liverpool failed to make the top 4 (and Newcastle did), and another when Liverpool also failed to make the top 4 (and Everton did). That means that Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal have stayed riveted in the top 4 (and the all-important Champions League place). It is hard to envisage, at present, any of these sides dropping out of the top 4, and even harder to consider who could break in to replace them.

Compare that with the situation in Spain: over the past couple of seasons, the Liga has sent to Champions League, as well as Madrid and Barça, the following clubs: Villarreal, Betis, Valencia, Celta Vigo, Deportivo la Coruña, Osasuna, Real Sociedad; next season they will send Sevilla.

We might feel that the English League is fairer than the Liga in terms of the spread of money and fans, but the Spanish Liga is throwing up more of a shuffle in the number of teams making the top.

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