Waspy Tiger :
You would get more from reduced fan numbers than by forking out for MB - there's no sense in that at all
Logically your right but that doesn't mean people playing this game use logic. If you put a ranking based on number of fans then people will want to be top of the rankings. We've see this with the guild rankings.
Why can't the developers rank the teams by team rating, this would mean the top team was the best rating team. This would encourage players to improve their players/squads.