8 Most Hated Football Teams Of All Time

8. Blackburn Rovers (2011-13)

Blackburn were always a reasonably inoffensive fixture in the Premier League. They were the first team to put a dent in Manchester United's dominance of the title, and had an attractive if functional team under Kenny Dalglish's stewardship with Tims Sherwood and Flowers, Shearer, Sutton and Colin May all shining. The subsequent breaking up of this title-winning team and the desperate relegation that later followed attracted mainly sympathy from fans of other clubs, rather than the traditional mockery. So why are Blackburn currently so derided by so many? In a word, Venky's. In November 2010, the Indian chicken meat processing company spent £23 million on buying up 99.9% of the club, and promptly set about their business of making the club the biggest and unfunniest joke in English football. Considering the continued presence of Mike Ashley and singing sections in stadiums, that is no mean feat. Every decision the new owners made seemed to precipitate a new crisis as a result, and any sympathy you felt for the players and fans evaporated in a cloudburst of tedium and ridicule. If there's one thing guaranteed to put a football fan off another club, it's watching a ridiculous soap opera unfold in the sports pages. Venky's made ludicrous statements about wanting to challenge for the Champions League, before promptly sacking the experienced manager, Sam Allardyce, and replacing him with a manager in Steve Kean who had no experience in the top division whatsoever. The neutral could have felt enormous sympathy for the Ewood Park faithful, as Kean proved out of his depth and the owners dithered about thousands of miles away back in India, were it not for the disgraceful way in which the fans reacted. Matches at Ewood became a genuinely uncomfortable affair as fans vented their spleen and made Kean's life a living hell, subjecting him to astonishing levels of abuse, intimidation and hostility. Their subsequent relegation that season left many a fan of Premier League hoping their paths wouldn't cross again any time soon. Thankfully, the Venky's comedy show rolled on and 4 managers in 6 months makes it more likely that lower league fans will have to witness a boorish, unpleasant fanbase glower at a nonsensical side.