What do fans of Premier League clubs think about what has been going on at their club and their hopes / wishes for the 2026/27 season?
Well, The Athletic have carried out a big survey of thousands of their paying subscribers.
The Athletic asking the fanbases of all 20 Premier League clubs – Are you feeling hope or fear, optimistic or pessimistic, ahead of the 2025/26 season.
The two choices given to fans – Either tick ‘Optimistic’ or ‘Pessimistic’…
Some very interesting findings coming out of the survey of fans of the Premier League clubs.
The new poll from The Athletic ahead of this upcoming 2026/27 season for all Premier League clubs:
The table code is
Premier League Fans Optimism Season 2026-27
| Club | Optimism |
|---|---|
| Leeds | 99% |
| Aston Villa | 96% |
| Nottingham Forest | 96% |
| Brentford | 95% |
| Chelsea | 94% |
| Tottenham | 92% |
| Sunderland | 89% |
| Bournemouth | 88% |
| Arsenal | 87% |
| Manchester United | 87% |
| Hull City | 86% |
| Coventry City | 85% |
| Ipswich Town | 85% |
| Manchester City | 84% |
| Crystal Palace | 82% |
| Brighton | 70% |
| Newcastle United | 65% |
| Everton | 60% |
| Fulham | 60% |
| Liverpool | 58% |
As you can see, fifteen of the twenty clubs had at least 82% of their fans saying feeling optimistic rather than pessimistic ahead of the 2026/27 season.
I think plenty of Newcastle United fans will be surprised that three other fanbases of Premier League fans are less optimistic!
Whilst United are fourth bottom when it comes to optimism with only 65% of NUFC fans positive, Sunday’s opponents Liverpool have their fans the very least optimistic with only 58% voting that way.
A year ago The Athletic ran exactly the same poll, on that occasion ahead of the 2025/26 season, Newcastle United fans were at the very bottom of the optimism charts. Only 19% optimistic and 81% pessimistic!