Expecting instant results is a cultural phenomenon in the digital age.
This expectation is fueled by the speed and immediacy of online interactions and the constant availability of information and services. The likes of Amazon with their “same day delivery” and your food delivery company being able to get you your KFC or McDonalds within 20 minutes of ordering without leaving the couch.
It has led to many having a misconception of time. They order from somewhere not Amazon and they are emailing the day after their order, demanding to know where it is, having not read the shipping which clearly explains they are buying from a small company and dispatch is 3-5 working days.
They sit in a high-end restaurant and have to wait 45 minutes for their main course to be prepared and served, not realising that their meal is being cooked fresh and they are in a TGI Fridays where everything is frozen and flash-fried for 10 minutes.
This high expectation of immediacy leads to complaints against the shop, restaurant and service provider from the customer, when in fact it is the customer who is in the wrong as they have not allowed themselves to appreciate that sometimes things take time.
And we are seeing this expectation of immediate results come through in football.
After one game, fans are already bantering off Florian Wirtz and labelling Tijjani Reijnders as the better signing. Likewise, they are already calling Viktor Gyokeres a flop.
We now live in a society where opinions are built after one game, and if a player is not scoring or assisting in their debut then they are automatically labelled a flop.
The expectation of instant results is amplified by social media leading fans to focus on batner rather than fact. It is all about mocking an opposing a team rather than allowing yourself to build a deeper understanding of football. And I also appreciate that many on social media are under 18 so all they understand is childish banter, as they are children – and they would not yet have that deeper understanding.
You also have the sad adults who rely on boosting their own moral through e-likes. They are bottom-tier fans who do not have the intelligence to engage in discussion and debate, so always go to banter.
Now Reijnders might prove to be a better signing than Wirtz, and at £45m I beleive he could be one of the signings on the summer. But I am basing this opinion not on one game but on last season at AC Milan.
To get a player of his quality, someone who was named the best midfielder in Serie A last season, so cheap is great business. But lets wait beyond the first game to make comparisons between the Premier League careers of Wirtz and Reijnders.
Likewise, the criticism of Gyokeres is laughable.
I have often said that Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, amongst others, would not survive in the “instant success era”. They were heavily criticised back in the 90s for their slow starts to their Arsenal careers. That criticism would have been amplified 100 times in the social media era. Both went on to become Arsenal legends.
Now I am not saying that Gyokeres will become an Arsenal legend on the level of Henry and Bergkamp, but as Arsenal fans we should know the history of the club and not be writing off a player after one appearance.
We also should not be spending time bantering opponents because they signed someone who did not “bang” from gameweek 1. But of course, as explained, some fans do not have the mental aptitude to involve themselves in conversations beyond banter and simple
And if you are one of those who demand instant success from others, whether it be an online shop, a resturant or your favourite footballer, why are you not applying the same level of expectation to your own life?
By your own bar, you should be a multi, multi-billionaire. And if you are not by the time you are 30, you have failed in life. But of course, you do not apply the same level of success to your life. And infact holding others to a high stand means that you can knock them down and present them as failures, even if they are not. You live to bring others down to your level rather than trying to raise your own life up.
So what sort of fan are you? Someone with intelligence who does not judge a player after one game?
Someone who is bottom tier and does not have the intelligence to contribute more then just banter to a discussion?
Or one of life’s failures who would rather drag others down to their level by labelling them failures rather than focusing on building themselves up?
Let us know in the comments.
Keenos