Who's the most hated top-flight footballer?

The current FIFA World Player of the Year, European Footballer of the Year, FIFPro World Player of the Year, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, UEFA Club Forward of the Year, Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year, PFA Players’ Player of the Year – and FourFourTwo Best Player in the World – attracted the opprobrium in a website poll of 2,614 fans.

The Portuguese winger jinked home with 48% of the votes in the survey, conducted by really-rather-useful TV-listings site Where’sTheMatch.com, which simply asked “Who do you dislike the most in the Barclays Premiership?” Furthermore, 69% of respondents described the Manchester United forward as “full of himself”.

Sunderland striker El-Hadji Diouf came second in the poll with 34% of the vote – with 31% of Mackem fans declaring a dislike for their own player, easily the most disliked “home” player. Controversial Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton was third with 29%, followed by Ashley Cole (24%) and Craig Bellamy (22%).

The respondents – who included fans of every top-flight team – were asked to justify their decisions by answering the question “What makes a bad player?” Foul play was the top response, with 31%, followed by arrogance (28%) and diving (19%). Off-field behaviour (7%) was down in seventh place.

The 10 Most Disliked Top-Flight Footballers
1 Cristiano RonaldoManchester United48%
2 El-Hadji DioufSunderland34%
3 Joey BartonNewcastle United29%
4 Ashley ColeChelsea24%
5 Craig BellamyManchester City22%
6 Didier DrogbaChelsea19%
7 Gary NevilleManchester United17%
8 Rio FerdinandManchester United12%
9 Emmanuel AdebayorArsenal12%
10 Kevin DaviesBolton Wanderers11%

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