Has Arsenal’s Success Made Online Football Banter Toxic?

I have written a few times this season that something has changed about football banter.

Maybe that reflects society, where everyone wants to tear others down and focus on what they cannot do.

Too many content creators now play a character purely for views. Once fan channels proved there was an audience for that type of content, it was only a matter of time before larger football platforms started trying to attract the same viewers.

Yet banter is supposed to be funny and clever. It is supposed to make sense.

When I was at school, at work, or talking to friends and family, your club being champions of England spoke for itself. As a child, an Aston Villa or Chelsea fan would not dare try to mock the best team in the country.

Yet since Arsenal lost the Champions League Final on penalties, I have seen grown adults, including former professionals, trying to belittle a squad that has reached a level neither of those pundits could dream of achieving.

When Banter Stops Being Clever

I have made no secret of the fact that some Gooners come out with arrogant statements, and some will have to take their medicine.

But my first thought when watching certain videos and reading certain posts is not that Arsenal are being mocked.

It is that those making the jokes are actually making their own club look silly.

Take Richarlison, whose response to Saturday’s game in Hungary was to upload a video of a baby laughing.

My instant reaction was not, “That’s clever humour.”

Instead, it was, “And that right there is why the Brazilian will never reach our level.”

I guarantee you will find Spurs fans who feel exactly the same.

Their supporters want the mentality of the entire club to change, yet here is their striker, instead of being embarrassed by consecutive 17th place finishes, making fun of rivals who were about to celebrate a successful season with a parade.

The fact that the 29 year old cannot see the irony is almost sad.

At least that was one player acting independently on his day off.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are a billion pound football club.

Instead of taking the period of reflection they promised, they posted invitations online encouraging supporters to visit the Stamford Bridge museum, promoting it as “London’s Home of Trophies”.

The club had just finished 33 points behind a local rival who were about to attract huge crowds onto the streets of North London.

And that was the moment they chose to make comparisons?

Your supporters are worried about the direction of the club and that is how disconnected you appear.

The gap between the two clubs has rarely looked bigger, yet you still post that?

There are Chelsea fans who believe their history begins and ends with Roman Abramovich putting the club on the map. Without him, they feel Chelsea have returned to their natural level.

And, whisper it carefully, Arsenal have actually won more trophies than Chelsea.

Which makes the “London’s Home of Trophies” line even stranger.