Ronaldo Most Hated Footballer In The Premiership

A study of over 2500 football fans has found that Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is the most hated football player in the Barclays Premiership, despite winning Fifa's World Player of the Year award and having had a successful season to date.

A recent survey asked 2,614 UK-based football fans the multiple answer question, “Which players do you dislike the most in the Barclays Premiership?” Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo topped the poll, taking 48% of the votes.

Ronaldo has been the standout recipient of world awards this season, being the current holder of the Ballon d'Or and the reigning FIFPro World Player of the Year, PFA and FWA Player of the Year, but his success in the awards has done little for his public standing, with 69% of fans claiming that he is 'full of himself', according to the survey commissioned by sports TV site www.Wheresthematch.com.

Senegalese Sunderland striker El-Hadji Diouf came second in the poll of most hated footballers, followed by Newcastle United midfielder and England one-cap Joey Barton, best known publicly for his stint in prison for assault.

When asked, "What makes a bad player?", fans were split. 'Foul play' was noted as the main reason with 31%, followed closely by 'arrogance', with 28%. 'Diving' came in at third, with 19%. 'Off-field behaviour' was seventh, with 7% of the votes.

There was representation in the survey of every Premiership team. The Wheresthematch.com team were interested to note that of the ‘most hated players', Diouf was most hated by his own supporters, with nearly a third, 31%, of Sunderland fans declaring their dislike for him.

Here is the full top 10 ‘most hated players in the Barclays Premiership':

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - 48%
2. El-Hadji Diouf - 34%
3. Joey Barton - 29%
4. Ashley Cole - 24%
5. Craig Bellamy - 22%
6. Didier Drogba - 19%
7. Gary Neville - 17%
8. Rio Ferdinand - 12%
9. Emmanuel Adebayor - 12%
10. Kevin Davis - 11%

Wes Lewis, co-founder of Wheresthematch.com isn't surprised about Ronaldo's placement in the poll,

"Ronaldo is undoubtedly talented, but the old phrase ‘nobody likes a show-off' is particularly apt in this case.

"For him to place higher than Diouf, whose spitting during matches has gained him notoriety within football circles, he must be doing something wrong. The good news for Ronaldo is that he is young enough to rectify this. His main problem as the survey says is his ego, which even though warranted to some degree needs to be toned down."

For further information/more stats or to arrange an interview with one of the Wheresthematch team, please contact Rich, 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on 01452 348 211 or rich@10yetis.co.uk