"WE'RE from Bournemouth, sunny, sunny Bournemouth!" This is how the famous Cherries football chant goes at Dean Court.

However, a study out today shows that while this may be true of the weather, AFC Bournemouth fans are certainly not of a sunny disposition.

The "Football Fan-tasy" report, by Littlewoods Football Pools, reveals the expected ecstasy and the inevitable agony of the average football fan, ranking clubs in a "Dreamers Index".

Littlewoods questioned almost 6,000 supporters from all 92 league clubs, ranking each club by comparing fans' predictions for the next five years with the team's actual performance over the past five years.

Statisticians analysed league performances, trophies won, the number of changes in manager and the financial stability of each club to score each team out of 100 in the "Dreamers Index".

The end result is that the gloomiest and most pessimistic supporters came from Bournemouth, Southampton, Mansfield and Brentford.

Jon Sheehy, from Littlewoods said: "Pressures within the modern game and the recent influx of major foreign investment has meant that fans' hopes, dreams and expectations of their club have never been higher.

"By separating fact from fiction, we've hopefully given fans of all clubs the chance to see whether their dreams for the future are likely to come true, or simply cause more misery and heartache."

But is it really all gloom and doom on the Bournemouth terraces or could it be that Cherries supporters are not living in a fantasy world of never-to-be realised glories?

Keen Cherries supporter Pete Smart believes it is less a case of gloomy Bournemouth and more about being realistic.

"I can understand why fans are gloomy, but to me that's a reflection of the financial situation of the club," he said.

"We're always locked in a battle for survival and the fans recognise the pressure the manager and players face.

"I think most supporters in the lower divisions are probably realistic and not gloomy. For instance, they want to see their team promoted, but are wary that if that happens they would end up selling key players to get by. It's all about money these days."

Mick Cunningham is well known in the world of sports photography and is the club photographer at AFC Bournemouth. He believes that although the fans can have their dour moments they're usually a cheery bunch.

"I totally disagree with gloomy," he said.

"I'm usually on the side of the pitch and can hear the crowds more. The best example of this would be last Saturday at Doncaster with 300 Bourne-mouth fans singing and cheering even when they went a goal behind - whereas the Doncaster fans booed their team off the pitch and they weren't even losing at that time.

"After the match I spoke to Darren Anderton to do his programme notes and he thought that Doncaster didn't want to spend much time on the ball because they didn't want to make any mistakes in front of the fans.

"I don't think that would happen at Bournemouth.

"Compared to other clubs Bournemouth have absolutely no money but the fans always get behind the team.

"The supporters, who travel up to Cardiff, are all still smiling after seeing the team lose.

"I certainly wouldn't say the Cherries are gloomy."

Perhaps the gloomy' tag is unfair after all and Bournemouth's football fans can be more accurately described as having there feet firmly on the ground but with a sense of humour.

  • A full list of each club's "dream" score in the Football Fan-tasy Report can be downloaded for free by logging on to footballpools.com/footballfever.