It’s joyless to mock Arsenal celebrations

THE celebration police are a mean-spirited bunch — yes, you Mr Carragher — but if you celebrate as Arsenal did after beating Liverpool you do make a rod for your own back. What are they going to be like if they actually win something? They’ll be uncontrollable and we’ll need to hand out sedatives. But you do have to wonder about anybody who takes delight in pointing to Arsenal celebrating in February as a reason Manchester City will be champions in May. Arsenal will stand and fall by their own achievements, not by their celebrations after a one-off game.

They were once considered an emotionless team. The crowd were impassive and it wasn’t an engaging environment to play in, and now people are offended by the fact they are celebrating. We bemoan players who seemingly don’t care who they are playing for. We accuse them of being mercenaries and not understanding what it means to supporters and then people criticise them for being heavily invested and enjoying moments. Make your minds up! The only concern I have is that such a reaction isn’t a trait of a team acclimatised to winning. I also think you empower your rivals and give them an even greater sense of validity. So without wishing to sound completely unmoved by the emotion of football, I believe winners win and take winning in their stride. But teams are a reflection of the personalities managing them. If they’re a firecracker like Mikel Arteta running down the touchline high-fiving everyone, I suspect Arsenal players’ over-exuberance and histrionics reflect that of their manager.

If it works for Arsenal and Arteta, all well and good. Rather than saying it was a good win and how great it was to see the fans and players enjoy themselves, people accused them of over celebrating. It all seems a bit joyless to me.