Fan-tastic Fatwa!

السّلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Years ago, three years to be exact, I had read the following fatwa on the website of Darul Ifta (which issues Fatwa’s – a ruling on a point of Islamic law or Shariah given by a recognized authority), the department of Dar al Ulum Deoband (India)  if its okay for a believer to call himself / herself a ‘fan’ of a scholar or a pious person? And would that amount to hero worship?