Stop Being Weird And Bitter About Liverpool Winning The League

Celebrating the success of others can turn envy into joy (and make you less of an angry old man).

I once interviewed a British ad exec who had spent time working in New York in the sixties. Explaining the difference between American and British attitudes to work and life, he told me:

“When I was drinking with colleagues in New York, we would see our boss driving home in a flashy Cadillac, and people would smile and say: ‘One day, I’ll drive a car just like that.’ When I was in the pub in London, we’d see the boos driving past in a Bentley and we’d just sneer and say ‘What a wanker.’”

Americans take inspiration from the success of their peers. Brits find it annoying. Our press is famous for building up public figures to knock them down again. Morrissey summed up the cynical attitude best when he sang, ‘We hate it when our friends become successful.’

This week, we have seen the prevailing bitterness of the British people vividly encapsulated in the widespread response to Liverpool winning the league.

You might like Liverpool or hate them. I’m not particularly bothered either way, although I do find large parts of their armchair fan base irritating, mawkish and performative. Mind you, I am childish, tribal, and petty about football, so my viewpoints lack any credibility whatsoever (and if we take the childish tribalism out of football fandom then, frankly, what would be the point?).

But the fact is, Liverpool won the league because they were the best team. You don't have to celebrate with them, but you at least have to give them some credit and acknowledge how they did it. Instead, every non-Liverpool fan in the country has tried to focus on the reasons why the victory was a hollow one: