Fan Sentiment Analysis in Football
Do you believe your team’s supporters are the happiest in football? Are they wrongly perceived as an angry group? Oddspedia employed AI facial recognition technology to analyze over 15,000 Instagram selfies of fans at Premier League and Scottish Premiership club stadiums, aiming to discover which clubs boast the happiest, saddest, and most angered fans.
Premier League Findings
Using AI technology, Oddspedia examined 10,000 selfies from Instagram, tagged at prominent venues like Emirates Stadium and Old Trafford, covering all 20 Premier League clubs. This analysis aimed to identify the emotional state of fans, pinpointing the happiest to the most frustrated supporters.
Premier League: Brighton & Hove Albion Fans Lead in Happiness
The study highlighted Brighton & Hove Albion fans as the happiest in the English Premier League, with 59.4% of their selfies reflecting joy. Their contentment might stem from both their team’s stable mid-table position and their scenic locale in the UK.
Trailing slightly were Manchester City and Arsenal fans, with 54.6% and 52.1% respectively showing cheerful dispositions, likely influenced by their teams’ competitive performances in the title race.
Premier League: The Saddest Fans Identified
At the lower end of the happiness spectrum, Everton supporters were found to be the saddest, with 10.1% of their selfies showing sadness. This sentiment is understandable considering the club’s recent struggles, including financial controversies and managerial instability.
Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United fans also showed significant unhappiness, reflecting perhaps unmet expectations given their teams’ statuses and recent performances.
Premier League: Who Are the Angriest Fans?
Luton Town supporters topped the list of the angriest fans, with 7.2% of analyzed selfies marked as “angry”, likely a reaction to their team’s relegation fears. Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers fans followed, with frustrations possibly fueled by poor stadium experiences and underwhelming team performances respectively.
Scottish Premiership Insights
Crossing into Scotland, Oddspedia’s study assessed 6,000 fan selfies across all 12 clubs in the Scottish Premiership to gauge the emotional landscape north of the border.
Scottish Premiership: Celtic Fans Show Greatest Joy
Celtic fans were found to be the most joyful, with 58.4% of selfies showing happiness, likely due to their team’s recent dominance in Scottish football. Hearts and Hibernian fans were not far behind, with their supporters also showing high levels of happiness.
Celtic’s ongoing success in the league and their historical triumphs over rivals Rangers, who conversely had less happy fans, underscore the findings of this unique fan sentiment analysis.
Scottish Premiership Emotional Analysis
Celtic FC: The Happiest Fans in the Scottish Premiership
In the Scottish Premiership, Celtic FC stands out with the highest percentage of ‘happy’ fan selfies at 58.4%, according to the Oddspedia study. Hearts and Hibernian follow closely, with 49.7% and 49.6% respectively, rounding out the top three for the happiest fans.
The success of Celtic, with nine Scottish Premiership titles in the last decade, along with multiple cup victories, underscores their fans’ high spirits. This contrasts sharply with their Old Firm rivals, Rangers, whose supporters display less joy.
Rangers Fans: Notably Less Jubilant
The Rangers fan base has experienced significant upheaval, particularly after the financial crises of the 2011-12 season, which necessitated the club’s rebuild from the Scottish fourth tier. Despite a swift return to the Premiership, the former glory days of the 1990s and early 2000s remain elusive, contributing to a current happiness level of only 5.6% among their fans.
Scottish Premiership: Teams with the Saddest Supporters
Livingston, St Johnstone, and Dundee emerge as the teams with the saddest fan bases in the Scottish Premiership. Livingston fans show a notable 12.3% sadness in selfies, which correlates with their precarious position at the bottom of the league standings.
St Johnstone, only slightly ahead in the league, shares similar levels of fan dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, Dundee, despite a better league position and potential playoff contention, also ranks high in terms of fan sadness.
Research Methodology and Tools Used
To carry out this fan sentiment analysis, Oddspedia researchers compiled Instagram location pages for each club in the English Premier League and Scottish Premiership. They collected the latest 500 fan selfies from these pages for evaluation.
The facial expressions in these images were analyzed using the Amazon Rekognition API, a sophisticated facial emotion recognition tool that assesses various expressions such as sadness, anger, and happiness. This study primarily focused on the ‘happiness’ metric to determine the proportion of joyful expressions among fans tagged in photos at each football club’s stadium.
