They are the Johnny-come-latelies who want a share of the glory but can’t name a player – and now researchers say millions of online football ‘fans’ are in fact frauds.
Of the 157 million Instagram followers of Premier League clubs almost a quarter – some 36 million – have been identified as fake or non-existent.
Researchers used online tools to spot signs of a fake fan, including bogus addresses and false names.
Surprisingly, Premier League minnows Burnley, whose most famous fan is Labour’s former Downing Street spin doctor Alastair Campbell, has the highest percentage of fakers at 36 per cent – accounting for 124,959 of the club’s 345,000 online supporters.