The Official Arsenal Supporters Club – Arsenal Mumbai SC (www.arsenalmumbai.com/) has organized a massive screening for the FA Cup Final at Zouk, Andheri. Over 350 Goonerettes and Gooners have registered already for the event – including me – and from past experiences, it is a foregone conclusion that the screening will be a raucous, passionate affair!
One of the best aspects of being a Gooner in India (also called “Desi” Gooners) is that we enjoy the unique distinction of being branded neither glory hunters, nor plastics, nor history aficionados.
Most of us have been hooked on “The Arsenal Way” since the days of Robert Pires (almost unanimously everyone’s favourite Gunner) Henry, Viera, Bergkamp, Laurent, Laurent et all strutting at their peak, with that unmistakable swagger that no other team possesses.. Arsene Wenger’s highly cerebral and pragmatic approach to football – and life on the whole – found many takers as Le Professeur waltzed his way in our hearts with his imminently profound, intellectual, quote worthy quips (“Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home..”)
Now we enjoy the attractive football put on display by the likes of Rambo, The Ox, Jack, Theo, Rosicky, Podolski, Kos the Boss, our very own BFG and lastly – Mesut Ozil!!
It’s been an undoubtedly hard journey to see fans of all the other clubs enjoying success after success as time passed by. I reckon it is doubly hard to stay loyal to your club when one is an overseas fan, what with the constant goading by others and the incessant taunts and reminders aimed at our lack of trophies.
Some of us have been lucky enough to make trips abroad to multiple football stadiums, and swear that The Emirates is one of best modern football stadiums, while Highbury was truly the Home Of Football.
We’ve all had frequent debates and discussions defending our move to the Emirates, all the hardships that followed thereafter, the financial restrictions we have had to live with, the heartbreak we’ve suffered as we’ve seen our beloved players like Henry, Cesc move on to greener pastures, the anguish as we’ve seen some of the mercenaries jump ship to our enemies, the constant humblings at the hand of our direct rivals and the helplessness as we’ve suffered because of our never ending injury woes.
Hopefully, all the prayers, tears, hopes and dreams will be rewarded this Saturday as we will once again witness our beloved Monseigneur Wenger lift the FA Cup Trophy at the Wembley.
The screening will witness all the Goonerettes & Gooners sing our hearts out, with songs old and new. “She Wore…”, “We’re The Arsenal..” will surely kick off the evening’s proceedings, followed by latest crowd favourites “NaNaNa Giroud”, “We’ve got a Big F*cking German..”, the many Santi Cazorla songs and also feature some of our unique desi/Hinglish songs about our dearest Arsenal!
Like every other Gooner across the world – i can’t wait for Saturday to arrive!!
#GunningForTheCup #DesiGooner
– Sudhir Ramakrishnan (https://twitter.com/DesiEPLFManager)
P.S. – It’s no surprise that the Mumbai chapter has been featured in Bleacher Report Best Overseas Locations to watch an Arsenal Match (http://tinyurl.com/BR-BOPTWArsenal)
You can find Sudhir on twitter @DesiEPLFManager
Positively Arsenal 
Great stuff Sudhir
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Dont all talk at once.
That is a great piece and it speaks volumes for our overseas fans.
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It is great to hear of loyal gooners wherever their from and we should all commend Desi for championing their cause.
Apart from nerves, this week should be enjoyed by all yet those with the grey clouds permanently above their heads are still moaning on whatever media outlet is available to them if the two sets of red and white ribbons are tied to the cup on Saturday I hope those critics do not use the term “we” to describe the victory
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What and wonderful and inspiring piece……I’m all fired up…..
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This is great Sudhir!
Our Dublin supporters club is gearing up for Saturday’s game already. (extra kegs and bar staff are being called-in!)
I would Imagine Arsenal might have plans to tour India soon, as judging from the inter-web-iverse, there do seen to be an awful lot of Gooners there.
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Latest story on the net is Carlos Vela back for £4m?
Seem’s too good to be true.
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Sorry, but the minute I read the word Desi, images of Indian food started jumping around in my head. It’s lunch here and I would love some Daal or some Biriyani. Yum!
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Of course we also have our Sensational Arsenal in Chennai…..and what a great gooner he is too…..
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Who is meeting up before the game? Olaf Brinkmann ® @olafbrinkmann wants to join in.
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Just be over to the Arsenal Mumbai web site….really neat…great gallery….click on the link above if you missed it….
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I plan to go to the Emirates screening and hope to meet up with Arse_Brain…..or A_B for short….probably at the George on Eden Grove…..I’ll place a GP on my forehead….or maybe 2.9% Neanderthal….
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Very impressive Bombay gooners. The pubs around Los Angeles are taking reservations and 15-20 charge for the fa cup game. I’ll be at the loudest and most ruckus of them all, THE FOX & HOUNDS. Probably standing room only. I feel sorry for the servers (0(. if you concentrate and listen hard enough you will hear our singing across the ponds. I petty my ears for the next few days after the game. I’ll have a glass of Stella’s to the gang at PA. CHEERS.
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Won’t you take some pics Goonerkam?
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Desi, nice piece about supporting a football club.
We have a Meerkat, now King Kong!
I will not mention a certain person,, who is being divorced in London. I will not mention he is not going to Brazil. HE, did not play in the game that had to end early.
The London residence, a flat in St. Petersburg, and half his annual income.
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I watched a very good final between Benfica and Sevilla – great hard fought contest between two good football teams – and a well deserved trophy for the Andalucians
Sneering at the Europa ? Not tonight
Be aware though almost every Sevilla player will be on Arsene’s transfer radar tomorrow #itk
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NOTH
Trotsky ?
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Saw Reyes tonight, kinda missed him… wish he had settled down… its one of the grudges i hold against Sir Alex and the Nevilles of OT! Hope they are proud of their role in disrupting the lad’s career in Arsenal!
Desi gunner… great piece. be sure that this is replicated in cities across Nigeria
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Fantastic read that Desi,there’s gonna be some party if we win that cup.
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We here in Goa will be meeting up too. At a place called London Pool to cheer on our fav club and hopefully celebrate a glorious championship win.
ARSENALLLLLLLL…..
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“Supreme Gunners Take FA cup!”. I don’t think its going to be close. A 3-0 or 4-1 most likely.
Nice one there Desi Gooner, prepare yourselves for a glorious beatdown.
The sight (and smell) of TWO spuds will most definitely raise the performance level to smackfest mode.
Not to talk of the match being the last for two of our longest serving players.
Code name: NO COMPLACENCY, NO MERCY!
Gunners worldwide unite!
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I tend to agree AMAN
still the anticipation and the butterflies are starting to get to me. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep the night before.
There is some talk out there we might exercise our buyback option on VELA. very interesting.
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well said desigunner !!! salute to overseas fans…domestic and abroad …… hmmm tht sounds like what dubya would say or the dude. hey aman too..unite!!
fkn rakitic huh….we were rumoured to get him when he was at shalke ( panathinaikos)..what a miss..lol..as if he’d ever join us… poor benfica huh…2 times in a row…talk about bottlers/losers muhaa ..nah just kidding..pity for their manager… has worked his arse off the last 3-4 years….
anyone else laughing at man united ? i am…. they just changed the manager and nowhere near top4..imagine if they had to sell their best players or deal with a stadium transition…lol..relegation? evra and vidic fighting…giggs fighting with moyes..van persie refusing to play…hahaha circus!
i will miss the f.a cup final..i have to attend …a business related dinner party with black suits and papillon..ridiculous in some ultra richman’s hotel in park lane …..fucking shit…silver lining? maybe i meet some rich daughter…..and explain to her how jack wilshere will combine the regista and btb roles in a modern 4-1-3-2 assymetric… but not only do i miss the final i will also miss the barca- athletico decider…. sucks big time… and ivan charging fans for the screening at emirates???lol..now thats low..wheres the class in that? let them all in for free..celebrate…
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If anyone is having trouble posting please let me know Via twitter.
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I confess I am starting to get those cup final nerves.
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finsbury
May 15, 2014 at 11:29 am
escpecially after the penalty horror last night…poor benfica kids…..
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not exactly nerves….i confess i am a bit indifferent…. lets face it..the only reason why we want it is to get media and fans off wenger’s back with tehir stupid trophyless taunts…. realistically top4 was the crucial thing….and the title obviously … and the champiosn league….the rest is story for the children…
if it fires up the players though and they go on next year and do the treble ill take it back….
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Thanks for this great piece Desi G. I love the thought of hundreds of thousands of Gooners all round the world tuned in at the same time.. Whether you are 10 or 10,000 miles from the stadium, you’re still a Gooner and will be going thorugh the whole range of emotions that only supporting The Arsenal can bring.
Except I won’t be tuned in at the same time, because my daughter’s netball tournament (that caused me to turn down the ticket I was offered), has now been ever so slightly rearranged for the afternoon. It’s watching “as live” two hours later for me with all the attendant agony of avoiding the result whilst wondering if I’ve recorded it properly.
I don’t even like Netball.
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Its a bit of an odd week Fins and suppose that may be to do with it being so long since we have had a real end of season final to look forward to.
The debate rages about who should start on Saturday. I have no problems with whoever starts. I am entirely confident that they will give their all.
I trust you have all also noticed the grim irony of Arsene’s selection problems – for the first time in the whole season, longer than a season in fact, he has every midfielder fit, available and eager to play – and it is the final game.
No doubt as I write this confident appraisal of Arsene midfield riches the Ox’s groin is flaring up like Mount Etna and Aaron and Mesut have just run into one another in training and the air ambulance is on its way.
Roll on the Final.
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So Hunter’s at the Dorchester, Forever at the netball – is anyone watching this bleeding game ??
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Any news about The Ox? Would love to see him at least on the bench.
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Thanks Sudhir for flying the flag so well for us overseas gooners. We are all continents apart but like our English brethren and sistren we all share that throbbing in our heart of hope and fear as kick-off looms closer on Saturday. I understand but not necessarily share Hunter’s indifference. It is all about affirmation, that is why we strive to do our best to succeed at all meaningful pursuits, especially in the competitive sports arena. We want to win as much as we fear failure. We want to win the FA cup if only to banish the ghosts of Birmingham and the 2011 Carling Cup final.
Anyway, best to hold down our emotions until Saturday.
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Anicoll, I along with the ghosts of 2006-13, will be watching “the game that begins the 3rd Era of Wenger dominance”.
Wouldn’ miss it for the world.
No butterflies, no fear, Brucie’s baby tigers ain,t got sh*te on us!
!razil 201s is set to be overrun by gunner scrotelage.
They’re gonna need a riot to contain Ozil, Jack, Poldi, Per, Bac, Kos, Verm, Santi, OG & the Ox (+Campbell, Vela).
So Hull’s biggest worry will be how to contain the players not going to the WC.
I am taking bets on our goal scorers.
In Rambo I trust.
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shottagunna
May 15, 2014 at 12:33 pm
of course and sure if it plays with the players minds…i just meant on the grander scheme of things..its just a domestic cup in which we are going for it because we are fed up of people telling us to take it seriously and to stop the trophyless taunts….i dont think wenger will give a shit either way ….obviously he would like to see the fans happy and what else, but a win will be more like a relief rather than genuine triumph (like say winning the title or the big one) and defeat will be “oh shit here we go again…now i have to address these ‘people’ and cover for the players”
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also when you think about what has happened to benfica in the last two europa finals…or bayern in two cl finals……can you imagine arsenal who might also need a few ‘lessons’ in big european finals before they get it right ? …. can the f.a cup final teach them anything for the far more emotional and demanding finals we aim to get into the next few years? could do…but europe is a whole different game…and imo europe is what we should be targeting…make our mark ajax style! 3 in a row…minimum.
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Great stuff Sudhir! Thrilled about the final.
FH training pics are out on the official website. Ox in it among the 40 nice pics. He looks a true beast our young lad, maybe it’s the beard.
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mou going for the record there….lukaku eto hazard mata luiz …they all love him
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its ok he still has john terry and frank lampard to suck on ….
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Just wanted to share these fine words from Sophie, my wife, who was talking about Art critics and the establishment.
“rather like the football world’s reaction to Arsene Wenger, they don’t react well to people who see things differently. It’s always happened. Look at Cezanne and the fuss he caused. Van Gogh. Anyone genuinely pushing the boundaries is cast off as a trouble maker who is perceived as actively trying to undermine all that’s gone before, when really their sole interest is what’s going on now/next.”
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happy birthday invincibles !!!
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Hunter
“…maybe i meet some rich daughter…..and explain to her how jack wilshere will combine the regista and btb roles in a modern 4-1-3-2 assymetric… but not only do i miss the final i will also miss the barca- athletico decider…. ”
If you can find a girl who understand’s that, she’s a keeper.
Jack asking Scholes for advice on how to play in midfield, wtf?
Jack is not going to get a free pass for hacking down anyone he wants’ – unlike Scholes.
Apart from that, Scholes was quite a decent player.
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i say he stops asking advise from manchester united morons and instead spends hours on the video watching/studying pirlo, xavi, emerson, modric, shweinsteiger ..those guys ..even baraja motta alonso de rossi vidal etc
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albertini, prosinecki, maniche
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Fine words indeed, Foreverheady.
It set me to thinking, that Arsenal’s then owners, with the assistance of the ever munificent M. Wenger, decided in the last decade of the 20th Century to grasp the bull by the horns and embark on a gigantic project to catapult Arsenal into the 21st Century by building a superb new stadium and guarantee Arsenal’s future at the top of the football table.
Unfortunately, with every jar of ointment there tends to be a loitering fly, and that fly, which was to cause Arsenal as a club, and Wenger as the manager a lot of grief, was someone who is alleged to have become a billionaire almost overnight, apparently in the shake down of the old Soviet Union, and he was known as Abramovich.
At a stroke he changed the economics of the sport by throwing economics, as we know it, out of the window, and rapidly set about buying himself a team of mercenaries and with them as many trophies as he could lay his money on.
Why? Well it does not have much to do with making money as he has invested hundreds of millions of pounds into Chelsea. It does not have much to do with love for the club either, as it seems he could just as easily have bought the Spuds if the cards has fallen in another way. In fact, it does not really matter why … it just is.
The consequence was that this grab for the Chavs came at the worst possible time, economically, for Arsenal, and it is only the genius of Arsene Wenger that kept us in the top echelons without any material funds available and having to sell players to reinvest, while the club spent everything else to ensure the stadium project was a success.
Old hat? Maybe. But it does bear remembering that the circumstances that led to our ‘barren spell’, and how much worse it could have been in the circumstances Abramovich placed us, and he has latterly been joined by the Oiligarchs of Citeh.
The effect was to push us down from being one of the top two teams to being top three and then top four, where we have been ever since.
The good news is that the Spuds are trying to emulate our success by building a new stadium. At the moment they are reasonably comfortable hanging on to our coat tails and languishing in 5th or 6th place.
They do not have an Arsene Wenger to steer them through such difficult times, in fact they currently do not even have a manager, and when the economic reality of building their new stadium hits them in the face, and players have to be sold, the chances are high that they will sink down the league for a few years and be grateful to be another of the mid-table also rans.
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Or he could ask Tomas Rosicky how to play.
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i think tomas is far more an attacking playmaker than a central midfielder..but OF COURSE he can learn more from him than the ginger arsehole….
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Paul Scholes accused Jack of “not getting any better”. That’s one area where Scholes has expertise based on personal experience.
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……. and boom! put down! by merlot!
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and thanks GP
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Team spirit, yes Reyes could have been amazing, probably should be a World Cup winner. His, and other players treatment during that game was a travesty, unfortunately, mike Riley’s reward for that was fergie making him head of the PGMOL….with predictable results for the rest of fergies tenure.
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I’m really looking forward to seeing Joel Campbell in the red & white.
I don’t most gooners realize how good he is.
After Brazil I expect more will.
If the Vela rumour is true, things’ll get really interesting.
Re-signing him would make sense considering 2015/16 ‘ll probably see Rosicky, Arteta & Flamini becoming definite 2nd stringers.
Vela’s really blossomed as a player, who deserves to enjoy him in his prime more than the Arse?
Arsene knows
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