With the Qatar World Cup underway, it has been revealed only one third of football fans would rather see England win the trophy over their domestic teams’ success.
As reported in the Daily Star, a study carried out by Betfair shows club success is more important to fans than that of the English team.
1,116 football fans were asked if they would rather England win the World Cup or their club side win the Premier League – with 65% of the participants choosing the latter.
No team’s percentage was higher in their support of England over their club.
Chelsea fans were the biggest supporters of the Three Lions with 39% of them preferring World Cup glory, with Liverpool fans the lowest (21%).
32% of Manchester United chose the World Cup. Other notable club’s fans percentage for international glory were as follows: 34% – West Ham. 31% – Arsenal and Tottenham, 30% – Manchester City and 26% at Newcastle.
Over the last few decades in particular, Manchester United fans have had a turbulent relationship with the England team.
Treatment of Beckham after his red card in 1998 against Argentina, and subsequently Phil Neville for giving away a late penalty against Romania in Euro 2000, was abhorrent but United and their fans stuck with their players the whole way.
Beckham had the infamous burning effigy of himself on the front page of national newspapers and suffered a torrent of abuse up and down the country from opposing Premier League fans.
Neville himself has spoken out on the abuse he received, revealing how it knocked his confidence so much it lead him to begin to pray before matches.
Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were subjected to racial abuse after missing penalties in the recent Euros final. Arsenal’s Bakayo Saka was also targeted for the same thing.
More recently Harry Maguire was roundly booed at Wembley, despite generally performing well in an England shirt.
Sir Alex Ferguson also had an icy relationship with the FA during his time at United. The former United boss believed United players were harshly treated and made examples of with disciplinary actions during his tenure at Old Trafford.
Ex-United star Patrice Evra was unhappy with the results of the poll. “I’m disappointed about that. I don’t understand that. The fans need to be behind their country for the competition, no matter what team they support.”