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There\u2019s something close to delight at Arsenal\u2019s latest loss and \u2018bottlemageddon\u2019 is headline news<\/strong>. The schadenfreude at their collapse, such as it is, seems near universal. It\u2019s a better story than their title-leading form.<\/p>\n There\u2019s widespread amusement at the suffering of their players and manager, who in turn are the target of ad hominem attacks on a daily basis. In distillation, it sums up widespread attitudes and not just in football. You see this in all walks of life.<\/p>\n At times it seems like the glee at their failure is retribution for some perceived crime they\u2019ve committed. And while there\u2019s plenty of reasons to dislike them, the same can be said for every team in the league, and they\u2019d be equally pilloried if they were top. In other words, it\u2019s not actually about the club or individuals concerned, though it seems that way sometimes. It\u2019s more generalised than that. It\u2019s now part of the contemporary entertainment landscape.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s part of a wider trend which loves the failure of others more than your own success. A kind of mean-spiritedness which when you expose it to civilians not familiar with football\u2019s ways, seems a bit weird to say the least.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s the position I find myself in. I cannot for the life of me find it in my heart to delight in the \u2018bottlemageddon\u2019 narrative. I just don\u2019t care enough either way. Win it or don\u2019t, I just really don\u2019t care. Why would you? It doesn\u2019t seem worthy of emotional investment.<\/p>\n It was entertaining to see Southampton beat them<\/strong> but that\u2019s where it ends. Arsenal are not alone in how they conduct themselves, nor in how they\u2019re run or the source of the money underpinning the club. Why is their failed quadruple gathering so much more attention than anything positive?<\/p>\n Of course they\u2019re massively rewarded for their failures, but this is elite football today: amoral, blinkered and self-absorbed, not to say greedy. Them losing isn\u2019t a blow against the establishment, it isn\u2019t politically motivated or point to a more fair and sane future. They just played a bit sh*t a few times. I wish it was heralding a new age, but it\u2019s really not.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m left with the conclusion that all this schadenfreude is just part of a general mindset which treats everyone\u2019s failures with satisfaction and finds ways to downplay anyone\u2019s success. I\u2019m not surprised people aren\u2019t welcoming their potential victory but rather that anyone not an Arsenal fan should care either way beyond a point.<\/p>\n But you see this kind of attitude at matches with people jeering and gesturing at opposition fans if they go a goal down. Not \u2018yay we\u2019ve scored\u2019 as much as \u2018ha ha, you\u2019ve let one in\u2019. That\u2019s a weird mindset. There was a time when this didn\u2019t exist. When did it start? Taking more pleasure in the opposition\u2019s woes than your own team\u2019s success?<\/p>\n I\u2019m not pearl-clutching about this, obviously things get adversarial at football and creative songs taking the pish out of the opposition have a long history. But this is something else. Something more visceral.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve said before that it may be down to economic unfairness that people commonly endure. They see the players and manager as the beneficiaries, puffed up on massive largesse which feels unearned and created at fans\u2019 expense. The whole gold leaf\/Salt Bae nonsense seems like a perfect metaphor for this.<\/p>\n But if you\u2019re offended by such things, it\u2019s best not to watch football at the highest level, as that\u2019s the model it\u2019s predicated on.<\/p>\n If objections to unfairness are behind the glorification of failure, it\u2019s doubtless unconscious anyway. It seems more instinctive than wilfully deliberate. Not that I expect anyone to be delighted about Arsenal\u2019s success who isn\u2019t a supporter; I actually expect indifference.<\/p>\n I suppose there\u2019s a lot more hate around in society, deliberately stirred up by a cabal of bad actors and media intent on fermenting hatred, twisting the minds of the credulous. Football, as ever, reflects societal trends, so perhaps it\u2019s all inevitable. But we shouldn\u2019t accept it as a new normal because in the end, being happy at unhappiness is a dead end.<\/p>\n Alternatively: Arsenal bottle the lot, Spurs relegated, Liverpool glory: The 10 best\/funniest outcomes this season<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\n