Middle Class opposition to "Conspicious Consumption"

[Niall_Quinn]

Chelsea and city are not obligated to compete fairly for the good of the game, they'll do whats in their interests. If a rich businessman with bottomless pockets chooses to invest in a business, then so be it.



So report them to UEFA and FIFA for their illegal activity.



Those clubs can't buy every player alive. You make it sound like everything's pointless and clubs without sugar daddies should pack up and go home. Then there would only be about 2-3 clubs in some leagues.

Ask montpellier if the essence of the game and the "lessened competitiveness" stopped them from competing and even winning the title against mega-rich psg. It was a 3 team title race till the last few games including Lille. This defeatist attitude is a bit strange.



I agree and its also to do with the class argument. It's become a sort of snobbish excuse and great a decoy to use that deflects attention from our own board/manager/team's failings.

I don't really know how we can get on our "self sustaining" high horse. The stadium project that was sold to us apparently to propel us into the big league has resulted in asset stripping, fatcats profiting from the club and expecting the fans to pay for it, 6 years later, with regular CL revenue. That to me is more annoying than big spenders who have always been around in some degree.

The essence of the game arguments are deceiving, football is already out of touch with reality and has been for a long time. Whats the difference between 1 million and 100 million. I could retire and live on both amounts. I'd be happy with the 1, i don't need to be snobbish and turn my nose up at the guy down the road who has 100 of them. Football is no longer an after work community club thing. Its big business. We are already dealing with humongous sums of money here, so perspective flew out of the window a long time ago. If someone is richer than you, then tough luck. You were already rich in a sense since you could and already have paid a million pounds or more for a football player, and more on an annual wage bill!

If FIFA/UEFA want to do the wage/transfer caps like the American sports or enforce the ffp rules in a greater way, then ok if they take steps to level the playing field. Till then, as mentioned above, if some clubs want to take a headstart with sugar daddies, instead of crying about it and using it as an excuse, do your best to maximise your own resources and keep growing as club to compete as best as you can. Arsenal F.C. are far from being paupers, good management at all levels and solid signings should see us up there competing.

Fight evil with evil and make sure you're just that bit more evil? Join the herd and head in the prevailing direction? See no evil, hear no evil, speak not at all unless it is to apologise for evil? Turn a blind eye? Cross the street? Keep your head down? Go with the flow? And so on.

When it comes to money everything is the thin end of a bigger wedge. The end game here is a European super league that will have the same teams locked in forever because they are exponentially richer than the rest of football combined. If that's what you want then just keep going along to get along. Criticise idealists all you want but at lest they slow the descent to naked vulgarity and on the way down we get to enjoy those sporting moments that stick in our memory. Believe me, if the money men you forgive so easily could get away with it they would much rather extract our money in return for nothing at all. And as soon as you given them an inch that's the direction they head in.

[fakeyank]

Precisely. You sit in America urging UK fans to do something and yet you are voting status quo (doing nothing) in your own backyard. Won't even defend your own country and countrymen but you are quick to tell us all we are cowards.

I cant vote here.. I only work in the US and did my college here. If I had it my way, Romney would never be running for President, let alone vote for him! And yes, you people in the UK need to get some balls. Go strike against the ****s running our club..

[Niall_Quinn]

I cant vote here.. I only work in the US and did my college here. If I had it my way, Romney would never be running for President, let alone vote for him! And yes, you people in the UK need to get some balls. Go strike against the ****s running our club..

Thought you were a real yank. Who are you voting for in the Bangladeshi elections then?

[fakeyank]

Thought you were a real yank. Who are you voting for in the Bangladeshi elections then?

I never lived in bangladesh either. I was born and brought up in UAE. I can vote in bangladesh though and if I had it my way, both the bitches will be dead. Military rule tbh..

[Xhaka Can’t]

There's a lot been said on this forum about the spending habits of Man City and Chelsea, and quite a few posters seem to see their behaviour as uncouth, and are inclined to turn their noses up at it, as if it's immoral in some ways. I do get the sense that this is a very middle class Guardian reading attitude to take, this opposition to what is disparagingly called "conspicuous consumption". It's as if spending money to better oneself (in this case a football club looking to improve their position in the league) is crude, and that such short-termism is detrimental to football as a whole. This does mirror quite closely the middle class attitude towards "prudence", their obsession towards savings and forgoing current consumption for future returns (which is lauded as virtuous self sacrifice in the bourgeois papers like the Daily Mail). Some of our supporters are behaving in precisely that way, praising our "self sustainable" model of not spending beyond our means, as if this short term sacrifice is necessary and crucial to maintain our long term financial health. This ignores that the fact that we're a football club first and foremost, and securing financial returns should not be the only goal of a football club.

You also get comments like "noveau rich", "arrivistes", etc, which betrays a mild form of class prejudice IMO. It's as if only the establishment (i.e. the "top 4" as it used to be known) are allowed to win trophies and any outsider looking to break this oligopoly should be treated with suspicion. It's like the middle classes turning their noses up at the working class guy done good when he spends his lottery winnings on extravagant purchases, which frequently results in snide remarks like "money can't buy class" (the same banner was on display against Man City in fact). I get the sense that this same attitude is on display on this forum quite frequently when talking about clubs like Chelsea, and it's a convenient way of ignoring the failings of our own board, who also criticise City and Chelsea to distract us from their own failings.

You are the Joey Barton of GW.

[Xhaka Can’t]

I have said this before.. Our club is a middle class club. Same mentality of middle class people to just be happy with 3rd or 4th place finish, happy to make up the numbers in the CL and complaining about the riches of other clubs. Our fans are pretty much the same too.. far too many who are keyboard warriors and wont do a 'serious' thing to make the necessary noise for change at the club.

The only part our club that has a 'winning' or 'high class' mentality is the board.. no wonder they are getting richer at our expense while we just sit here and complain how terrible they are.

And you are Joey Barton's retarded brother.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Before someone complains, no offence to retards was intended.

[Niall_Quinn]

I never lived in bangladesh either. I was born and brought up in UAE. I can vote in bangladesh though and if I had it my way, both the bitches will be dead. Military rule tbh..

UAE, so you are an American then? Make your mind up.

I see, that's a different way to go. Change for the worse. Which explains why you want Wenger gone and the board to be lauded.

[Niall_Quinn]

Before someone complains, no offence to retards was intended.

None taken.

[Xhaka Can’t]

UAE, so you are an American then? Make your mind up.

I see, that's a different way to go. Change for the worse. Which explains why you want Wenger gone and the board to be lauded.

He's in to all things United.