THE football-free summer maybe a relief to some - but for the majority of fans it means 12 weeks of miserable depression, boffins have claimed.

And the affected can now claim to be suffering from 'Season Affective Disorder', named after the winter blues syndrome, following the scientists' research.

They say two-thirds of football fans in the UK - 9.2 million people - will be lethargic, unsociable, irritable, without focus and having the feeling of a void without their football fix.

Pauline Perkins, secretary of the official Blackburn Rovers Supporters' Club, admitted to sufferering every symptom: "I feel exactly the same as the scientists have said. I feel like something is missing.

"I don't know what to do with myself. There are only so many times you can clean the house.

"I miss the adrenaline of games, the early starts on match days, making sandwiches, and the camaraderie.

"My husband isn't a fan and thinks I am mad."

But Tony Scholes, of the Clarets Independent Supporters' Association, said the season's end was a relief for Burnley fans following the team's dismal form.

"I am not missing it at all. You need a break and I don't understand people who get depressed," he said.

"When your team is going well, you don't want seasons to end. I can't remember a season I have wanted to end as early as this."

More than 2,000 fans of Premiership teams were surveyed in the research sponsored by Barclaycard.

It showed that 68 per cent of Rovers fans were feeling directionless and unmotivated in the absence of football, with 59 per cent claiming the sport was the most important thing in their life.

A helpine for fans to get summer survival packs, including cups of tea, 4-4-2 magazine, Mars bars and footballs has been set up by Barclaycard. Call 0870 416 8888 for more information.