Coronavirus: Most UK football fans feel Liverpool should be given the Premier League title

A YouGov survey showed that 68% of followers of the sport want to hand it to the Reds with 24% thinking the opposite

A poll by YouGov has shown that football fans are far more likely to feel the Premier League title should be given to Liverpool, should the season be abandoned, than the general population.

Top flight football has been postponed over the outbreak of coronavirus in the UK, leading to concerns that the season may be abandoned if there is not sufficient time to complete all fixtures. A survey of some 2,026 British adults found that 68 per cent of football followers were likely to say the Reds should be given the title in the event of an abandoned end to the season, compared to 36 per cent of the general population.

Twenty-four per cent of football followers felt the title should not go to Liverpool, while 17 per cent of the public in general thought it shouldn’t. This also indicated football followers were far more certain of their views than the wider public.

Liverpool held a 25 point lead in the Premier League at the time of the season postponement, needing only two wins to be mathematically assured of the silverware with nine matches to play.


The case of Liverpool and the title appears to be one of the few areas where it is straightforward to predict public preference.

Liverpool’s commanding lead over the league means that few would predict anything other than a Liverpool title win come the end of the season had it played out in full. Those who would oppose handing them the title surely would only do so with the defence that a team should only lift the trophy when they have won it mathematically.

The wider issue for sport is that coronavirus struck around two-thirds of the way through most winter sport seasons. The public in general is pretty divided in what they would want to see happen to competitions in a broader sense.


Forty-two per cent of the general public believed that elite competitive sports were good for the nations’ morale, while 39 per cent believed they were important for the economy.

Almost all competitive sport at the top level has been postponed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, while organisers are unsure of a date to resume action due to the ongoing collective effort against the virus spread.

Broadcasters are also in a difficult position over the lack of action, and some have been criticised for their subscription policies.

Read more: Euro 2020: Why postponement could be good news for Liverpool… and bad for West Ham