Fans who win when they're singing

Bottom of the league are Bolton whose fans missed several sharps and flats, leaving the team with a relegation threatening score of 11.256. Tottenham came 19th with 7.47 and Fulham 18th, Arsenal 13th and Chelsea 11th. Restoring some London pride were West Ham in eighth and Charlton in sixth.

The study for Barclaycard, the Premiership sponsors, found West Ham sang "good songs" and had "a comfortable pitch range" while Charlton's content was "simple" but their fans held a tune well.

Chelsea's fans went too flat on lower notes and too sharp on others while Arsenal's collective voice "'starts very high and drifts consistently flat". Fulham, too, had a "high starting pitch drifting flat" and Professor Howard, head of music technology at the University of York, recommended fans pay closer attention to the tunes before attempting them.

Of Spurs, he said: "There were erratic pitches at times."

Professor Howard said: "All the fans sing with real passion, but in some cases the vocal skills of some fans don't come close to matching the ball skills of the players they support."

The professor advises fans to warm up before singing by stretching, rotating the neck, moving lips, jaw and tongue as far as possible for about 20 seconds, humming softly, taking deep breaths and wearing a scarf to keep the neck warm.

While singing, fans should keep their feet squarely on the ground, their shoulders relaxed and they should not start too high or too fast. Barclaycard sponsorship director, Nic Gault, said: "As our table shows, the quality of the singing is not necessarily reflected by results on the pitch. Everyone knows that strong vocal support can often be worth a goal start. If they get it in tune too, then that has to be music to everyone's ears."

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