Fulham do the ‘happiness double’ as Liverpool suffer

Happiness, they say, is relative and a survey of football fans certainly proves the point as the big clubs fail to satisfy their followers and supporters of less fashionable teams revel in their achievements.

After another long season of biting their nails and tearing out their hair, fans were asked to mark their team and manager's performance - and one club, Fulham, came out on top in both polls.

Their local rivals Chelsea may have done the official double, but even that could not dampen the spirits of the Cottagers who are now officially the happiest fans in the top flight.

The survey for the Times found that Fulham fans gave their team a 92 per cent approval rating, while manager Roy Hodgson got a remarkable 97 per cent - thanks to a stellar season in which they made it to the final of the Europa League.

The second most popular manager was Avram Grant of Portsmouth, who somehow got his side to Wembley despite their financial woes and inability to win in the league. He had a 95 per cent approval rating and the team got 81 per cent.

The second most popular team was Birmingham City, whose fans awarded them 88 per cent, thanks to an unexpectedly impressive Premier League campaign. Fans of Birmingham's local rivals Wolves were obviously delighted, and maybe a bit surprised, to see the team stay up - and they awarded the team an 84 per cent approval rating.

In equal third place, also with a mark of 84 per cent, was Spurs - who managed to gatecrash the top four and earn themselves a place in the Champions League.

Chelsea fans are hard to please - they may have the double but the team only managed an 81 per cent approval rating - level with FA Cup opponents Portsmouth - while Carlo Ancelotti got 82 per cent for his performance.

Arsene Wenger's popularity among the Arsenal faithful may also be on the wane. After a fifth successive season without any silverware the Gunners could only garner a respectable 73 per cent approval rating from their fans.

But the big losers were Liverpool. Fans on the Kop may have backed Rafa Benitez early in the season, but in the Times survey his approval rating was just 45 per cent - less thansacked West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola managed.

He did fare slightly better than the team, which got a dismal 37 per cent - leaving them 18th in the satisfaction league.

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