We’re top of the table! Chelsea FC is Premier League’s most hated

Chelsea FC has once again shown its resilience following the mid-season departure of Jose Mourinho, pipping his new club Manchester United for the title of the Premier League’s most-hated club.

Chelsea has known for some time that it can be lonely at the top. Apparently, it can also be lonely at the 10th place spot.

In what may be their most reliable bit of original-source reporting ever, The Mirror announced that Chelsea claimed the top spot in fan voting for their most hated Premier League club. The Blues knocked Manchester United out of the top spot, with the Louis Van Gaal experiment generating sympathy rather than disdain for the Red Devils.

Despite the calming good cheer of Guus Hiddink in the second-half of the season, Chelsea’s dual legacy of Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho part deux fueled the vitriol of the polled. Chelsea’s ranking owed much to the north side of London, as Tottenham Hostpurs and Arsenal were Chelsea’s most hated and most hateful rivals. Only the Manchester rivalry and the Liverpool-Everton cross-town rivalry approached such a level of emotion.

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Premier League champions Leicester City were the second-least hated club in the Premier League, demonstrating the a single bout of success is not sufficient to draw the rage of your fellow football fans. Chelsea’s formula of prolonged success, obnoxious players and indulgent petrocrat spending lays out the template for other clubs.

Like any other team ranking, individual talent, club chemistry and fan support go hand-in-hand towards the final result. Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois all individually provide non-Chelsea fans – particularly Spurs fans – worthy targets of anger. When they come together with their unique blend of anger, violence, flopping, arrogance and impeccably-timed title-denying goals, then you have the makings of a dynasty.

Chelsea fans contribute the necessary off-the-pitch provocations to ensure that the players’ efforts are not wasted. Whether it is infuriating the residents of a mid-size city that hosts a bottom-half lower-tier team, or merely crowing about the previous decade while knowing little about the previous century, Chelsea fans from the Shed End to around the world ensure that no love is lost.

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Antonio Conte’s touchline #passion will help Chelsea maintain their place at the top of the table, but as with all things Premier League, the competition will only get fiercer. Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp will surely inflame their rivals at Manchester City and Everton, respectively. The emergence of new contenders for the Premier League crown will produce new detractors, as well.

Leicester City finished second-last among most hated teams. The Foxes have wonderful potential to climb the list. Jamie Vardy’s hot-headed temper with officials and cocky “it’s all f**king mine” attitude will likely wear thin once the Cinderella story wears off. A few transfer signings to replace the affable Leonard Ulloa and Riyad Mahrez could see the Foxes on their way.

Any ambitions to ascend in the League of Hate would likely also come at the expense of manager Claudio Ranieri, because how can you not love that gentle grandfatherly figure? Sacking Ranieri would, on its face, generate immense ill will given the ungratefulness and disrespect such a move would reveal. His replacement would surely be less likable, bringing the Foxes within striking distance of the London and Manchester clubs.

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As the new season approaches, Chelsea and its fans will take heart from the words of a modern-day philosopher, and may even add a new number to repertoire coming from the Shed End on game day.

"Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hateFakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fakeBaby I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shakeI shake it off, I shake it off"