Man dubbed unluckiest fan after Liverpool fail to win when he's watching

A football-mad man has been dubbed the sport’s unluckiest fan after his team failed to win every Premier League game he has watched this year.

Tommy McAllister, 30, is so 'cursed' his mates have tried to ban him from watching games after Liverpool won just four of the 10 Premier League games played since Christmas - the only ones he didn’t watch.

placeholder image — Jon Parker Lee/PinPep

While the unlucky fan sat through every single one of the six draws and losses. This included watching Liverpool lose 2–1 to Wolves, only for them to win the same fixture 3-1 days later when he skipped the game.

His bad luck isn’t restricted to this season either as Tommy also didn’t watch the team’s famous comeback against Barcelona, where they had to win 4-0 after a lacklustre first leg in the 2019 Champions League – which they miraculously did.

It has become such a pattern, that his Everton-supporting friends now encourage him to watch games, convinced that it means their local rivals will then lose.

The lifelong Liverpool supporter was identified as football’s unluckiest fan after Xbox partnered with leading sports data analysts Opta to create a new metric - xJ (expected jinx), designed to quantify the impact fans may have on match outcomes.

Developed with Opta’s director of analytics, Jonny Whitmore, and powered by live win probability data, the model analyses how and when fans watch games to determine whether their presence correlates with positive or negative results.

Almost 10,000 fans completed the xJ tracker, by submitting their matchday viewing data, with a higher score identifying those having the statically most ‘unlucky’ impact on their team.

His Everton-supporting friends now encourage him to watch games, convinced that it means their local rivals will then lose | Jon Parker Lee/PinPep

Tommy, who emerged with the highest score to earn him the title of unluckiest fan, said: “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 beat the jinx, Tommy has forked out hundreds of pounds on multiple team jerseys – now wearing his seventh of the season - one of which even included the goalkeeper kit.

He has also tried some elaborate matchday rituals, including watching the game from a different room or seat and even standing up when Liverpool take a corner.

But his friends have blamed Tommy for Liverpool’s poor form, filling the group chats with messages like “Tommy must be watching” when Liverpool concede, or “turn the telly off Tommy!” when things go wrong.

His misfortune has also spilled into his personal life, from a string of his favourite Liverpool restaurants closing down once he becomes a regular, to queuing for five hours to meet a Walking Dead star only for them to leave when he was just 10 people away.

Xbox partnered with leading sports data analysts Opta to create a new metric - xJ (expected jinx), designed to quantify the impact fans may have on match outcomes. | Jon Parker Lee/PinPep

Tommy, a letting agent from Moreton, Merseyside, added: “I feel like I’m so unlucky with it, but it’s quite funny at the same time - I’ve just got to laugh about it.

“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.

“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.”

Having been crowned the UK’s unluckiest fan, Tommy will forfeit his ability to watch the games in a show of extreme dedication to Liverpool FC – choosing to play on an Xbox instead in the hopes it will benefit his team’s results.

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."