A poll of over 10,000 football fans conducted by the Trinity Mirror group of mewspapers has revealed who is the most hated Premier League team in the country. But where are Saints ? Here we tell you.

It may come as a surprise to some, but Manchester United are not the most hated team in the country, that honour lies with Chelsea, who topped the poll which surveyed the views of the fans of each Premier League club in equal numbers to ensure equality.

The Red Devils of Old Trafford are in second place, a position that will annoy some of their followers who will see it as symptomatic of their recent fall from grace in that they are not hated for winning everything anymore.

Liverpool are in 3rd place and are followed by Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in that order.

The top six is not surprising, perhaps the only question being in what order they would appear.

7th though is surprising, it is Stoke City ! I can't see that the Potters have done too much to be hated, indeed they are one of the few teams in the Premier League without a traditional rival of note, Bournemouth being one of the others, but it seems that they are a team that no one can bring themselves to like that muc, possibly due to the style of football they have produced over the past few seasons firstly under Tony Pulis and then to a lesser degree under Mark Hughes and perhaps more because a trip to Stoke is not one of the best to go on, partly because the stadium is very isolated and their fans are not very welcoming.

In 8th place come West Ham and their reputation has been tarnished of late due to their Chairman and his infamy.

9th is Sunderland and then a couple of teams with a surprisingly high placing, West Brom in 10th and Crystal Palace in 11th, it is hard to see what either have done to justify such a high ranking.

12th is Everton who will of course poll highly among Liverpool supporters and they are followed by a couple of Premier new boys, Hull in 13th and Middlesbrough in 14th, I can see why some would hate Hull due to their Chairman's antics, indeed some Hull fans hate their own club at the moment because of him, but Middlesbrough are another who have no major direct rivals, I can only imagine that they have hoovered up the Sunderland vote as the Mackems can't vote for Newcastle.

15th is Swansea City and they are about where they should be, although due to some of their draconian policing methods for away supporters at the Liberty I'm surprised that they haven't finished higher being the only non English team in the Premier League.

Now comes Southampton Football Club, we are 16th which is perhaps a measure of where we are at present, we are admired by many for our achievments in the past few years including three top 10 finishes and the way we play football etc.

But as successful as we have been it also shows that we are not doing quite enough to attract the hatred of other clubs, we are seen as a progressive club, but not an arrogant one (If this doesn't sound arrogant in itself)

In 17th comes Watford followed by the third newcomer Burnley.

Unsurprisingly Leicester City are 19th and not hated by many, indeed virtually the whole footballing community in England willed them to their Premier League Championship last season and saw them as a ray of hope in a footballing world that is being increasingly dominated by the big clubs who are getting bigger.

Perhaps the one surprise with regards to Leicester is that they were hated more than the club in 20th place Bournemouth, this shows that there is a certain fan who will resent success of any kind and that is why perhaps Leicester are hated a little more than the Cherries.

You would have expected Bournemouth though to be near the bottom, they have been admired by many for the way they have gone up the Leagues from a League two club at the start of 2009/10 to being a Premier League club within six years, this is some achievment and one that has brought them many plaudits, hence no one seems to hate them that much.

Of course Bournemouth like perhaps Stoke and Middlesbrough have no real big rivals to vote against them, very few Saints fans put them highly on the list of hated clubs in the Premier League or otherwise, indeed from my experience at the moment Saints supporters would hate the following clubs more than any other in the Premier.

1. Liverpool, the exodus to Anfield in the past two years has turned many Saints supporters against Liverpool and I would say that they are the top club for most Saints fans to hate.

2, Tottenham Hotspur, this goes back a bit further than most hatreds and the hatred has simmered since they stole Glenn Hoddle 15 years ago and has boiled over again since the way they lured Pochettino to White Hart Lane and the coveting of some of our players, not least Victor Wanyama last August.

3. Manchester United- Never popular with Saints supporters, but lately they haven't done much to make us hate them, I'm sure they will do soon.

After that there aren't that many more club's Saints fans would hate that much, Everton might sneak fourth due to recent events although older fans have always had a simmering resentment due to the semi final at Highbury in 1984. Chelsea and Arsenal would also pick up a vote or two along the way, but after these teams, Saints fans have little gripe against the rest of the Premier League.

All in all a few surprises in the listing, what do readers of The Ugly Inside think ? Who are your top three hated teams Vote In The Poll Using The Link Below ?

http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/members//polls/1454/which-prem

Photo: Action Images

ChristchurchSaint added 14:28 - Jul 26 Nice to see that not too many hate us! I think you are correct that most people like the way we play, and probably sympathise that we keep losing players to the top rabble. Incidently, Nick, Spuds starting nicking our players a long time ago.......my first memory of that was Martin Chivers in 1968, and I'm sure there were some before that!
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halftimeorange added 15:37 - Jul 26 I would wager that Saints would have finished even lower in the "hate" stakes had Bournemouth supporters not had the opportunity to cast their votes. Going by last season's meetings there is an element within their fan base who regard Saints as the "opposition" and would like to create a vendetta situation. Luckily, that won't happen, as Saints supporters regard Bournemouth in the way that Ebeneezer Scrooge came to see Tiny Tim - close enough not be ignored, fragile and vulnerable!

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SanMarco added 20:16 - Jul 26 And Trinity Mirror Group's purpose in conducting this????
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NewburySaint added 21:55 - Jul 26 1. Tottenham 2. Hotspur 3. Spurs
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SonicBoom added 23:14 - Jul 26 Id rather we were higher. The top teams are the most hated because they upset other teams. We aren't hated as we don't bother anyone enough.
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