Man dubbed ‘football’s unluckiest fan’ as Liverpool never win when he’s watching
A football-mad sportsman has been dubbed the unluckiest fan in the world after his beloved Liverpool FC failed to win any of the six Premier League matches he watched this year
Liverpool fan Tommy McAllister has been crowned football’s unluckiest fan
A footie-mad lad has been dubbed the sport’s unluckiest fan after his team failed to secure a win in every Premier League match he watched this year. Liverpool fan Tommy McAllister endured all six draws and losses, while Liverpool managed to clinch victory in just four of the 10 Premier League games played since Christmas – the only ones he didn’t watch.
The 30 year old letting agent from Moreton, Merseyside, is so ‘cursed’ that his mates have tried to prevent him from watching matches. And it’s become such a regular occurrence that his Everton-supporting pals now encourage him to tune in, convinced it ensures their local rivals will lose.
Liverpool have lost every Premier League game Tommy has watched this year
McAllister saw Liverpool suffer a 2-1 defeat to Wolves, only for them to secure a 3-1 win in the same fixture days later when he missed the game. And it seems, his bad luck isn’t confined to this season. He was absent when Liverpool miraculously pulled off a 4-0 victory against Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League match.
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The lifelong Liverpool supporter was crowned football’s unluckiest fan after Xbox partnered with top sports data analysts Opta to create a new metric – xJ (expected jinx), designed to gauge the impact fans may have on match results.
Developed with Opta’s director of analytics Jonny Whitmore, and fuelled by live win probability data, the model scrutinises how and when fans watch games to determine whether their presence correlates with positive or negative outcomes.
Now his friends want to stop him from watching the games
Nearly 10,000 supporters completed the survey, with Tommy emerging with the highest score to claim the title of unluckiest fan, saying: “I’ve been a Liverpool fan for as long as I can remember, so it’s hard to think that I am jinxing my favourite team and may be behind the reason for their slump this season.
“But the stats don’t lie and it seems I really am that unlucky. We all want to see our team win when we watch them but it looks like I’m better off avoiding all games, and perhaps Liverpool will then turn it around.
“Even my Liverpool-supporting mates are trying to talk me out of watching games in the hope that it will guarantee a win.”
In a bid to break the curse, Tommy has forked out hundreds of pounds on different team shirts – now donning his seventh of the season – one of which even featured the goalkeeper kit.
He’s also tried some quirky matchday rituals, including viewing the match from a different room or chair and even getting to his feet when Liverpool take a corner.
Yet his pals still blame him for Liverpool’s poor performances, bombarding the group chats with texts like “Tommy must be watching” when Liverpool ship a goal, or “turn the telly off Tommy!” when things go wrong.
He’s even tried to break the ‘curse’ by wearing a different shirt when watching Liverpool play
What’s worse, it seems his misfortune has also seeped into his private life. “I live in Merseyside and love trying new places with my wife, but I seem to have a knack for picking favourites in Liverpool that end up closing down,” he said. “My go to spot in school was Yum’s on Bold Street, which closed around 2015.
“I finally found a replacement in City Buffet on Hanover Street, which then closed in 2022, while other favourites on the same road followed the same fate: Yard & Coop (closed 2022) and Red’s True Barbecue (closed 2019).
“It’s become such a running joke that I’m now scared to call any restaurant my “favourite” in case I doom it.”
Nevertheless, he’s managing to keep his sense of humour about the predicament. He said: “I’ve just got to laugh about it.”
Tommy will now abandon watching matches in an incredible show of loyalty to Liverpool FC – choosing to play on an Xbox instead, in the hope it might boost his team’s luck.
Mohan Gehlot, Xbox senior global product manager, said: “Tommy’s new title as the UK’s unluckiest fan is a heavy load to carry, but we’re sure Liverpool supporters around the world are thankful for his sacrifice.
“We’re just glad we can improve Tommy’s new matchday experience by rewarding him with an Xbox console and EA FC 26.
“We hope he’ll have better luck playing as Liverpool than he does watching them.”
