The Strange Ways of Manchester United Fans

I guess this one was long overdue!

An explanation on why I am not a big fan of Manchester United fans and why I can say without a doubt that even if Arsenal never happened to me, I could never have ended up as a Manchester United supporter.


Here's why...


Instance 1

So a friend talks to me on Facebook after almost a year of not being in touch. He needs a survey to be filled, which I duly do. And this is a friend from my non-football craze phase; when football for me began and ended with Christiano Ronaldo (because he was really hot). This friend was a Manchester United fan and had very not-so-discreetly shared pictures of an almost clothes-less Christiano Ronaldo with me! So I happened to mention to him that while Ronaldo was probably still hot, I was now a Goonerette and had surrendered to the hotness of Olivier Giroud and cuteness of Aaron Ramsey!

His responses, "The process or an instance of supporting arsenal is called brainwashing ...priyankaaaaaa noooooo"

"since u already a goon i'll just say ek do match jeetne se koi dabang nahi ban jata hai ...still 35 matches to go..farcenal wont keep up with the big boys..take me home united."

"i am not sure if u'll be able to see..u'll be traumatized by the end of this month ..haha totally always been fun chatting with you"

Instance 2

I put up a picture in my new Arsenal jersey on Whatsapp...and some bits of the attention it garnered went thus:


Friend who hadn't spoken to me in a year. Didn't ask me what was up, how I was, or what I was doing...but had this to say:

"Priyankaaaaaa...what is wrong with you...since when did you become a gooner? What have you done to yourself?"


Instance 3

This was a childhood friend who is in London now and was going to watch a Chelsea home game, live.
And since I realized what a great moment it was for him, our conversation went like this:

Me: Hey! While we are rivals when it comes to football clubs we support, I am still you friend. So I hope you have a really really good time watching today's game.

(And I swear to God, I really, genuinely meant it)

Friend: Hey! Hi! Thanks! And btw...Gooners are playing really well too. Cheers!

I was so happy, I really wished that Chelsea won the game, just because he was so nice about me supporting Arsenal! Didn't happen though! Chelsea lost at home :(


See the difference?

Supporters from other clubs will just accept it with a yeah whatever, or ok then, peace, or too bad then, when they find out you support a club other than their own. But they will leave you and your decision alone.

Tell a Manchester United fan you support any other club, and they will most certainly start talking like jilted lovers! They'll do whatever it takes to make you feel like you are making the biggest mistake of your life by not supporting Manchester United. And I am not kidding when I say they take it very very personally if you don't support their club!

 You lose an important game, they'll have a field day making fun of you. You make fun of them when they lose a game, and they'll come back with a video/picture of an older game that they have won against you. Because, well, f**k logic!

If they win the game, it's a really important game they won; but when they lose the game, then what really matters is a game they won last week, or the week before, or the week before!

If they are on top of the table, like they were, when the Premier League began, "On the top baby, right how it's meant to be"; and now when they are not, "We'll talk in May. That is when we judge."
 Ok then! :D

Your club has a bad day. You comment on how terribly they played. And that's the only time Manchester United fans will acknowledge your thoughts and opinions on the game, and agree with you. I have my doubts if the same kind of agreement will be forthcoming when you talk about a terrible performance by them or mock one of their players. Because Hello! They can do no wrong, OK!  :D

And to be very honest, inspite of the irritation, I don't hate Manchester United. It's not like I am against the club or anything. I know they're one of the biggies, I know they've probably won more games and titles than Arsenal, but I cannot tolerate that the fans can't be mature or respectful about someone's choice of supporting another football club!

That, and I hate the general attitude of, "Not arrogant, just better." Seriously? As current standings go, they are clearly not better (in playing fair and playing classy, we win hands down; and as of today, we are better even in terms of being ahead in the League!) but they are very very arrogant!

 Obviously, not all of them are like that. I'm not saying there are no Manchester United fans who are respectful of other clubs and their fans without being patronizing or sly or condemning. I'm just saying I haven't met any. :)

As far as me and my football craze go, Manchester United fan friends are more than happy to ignore it (not without making their displeasure felt), or ridicule and mock me for supporting a supposedly 'loser' club, or make me feel like a fool for not understanding the game (and this is the only criticism I don't hold against them because they're right).

The Arsenal fans I know may not be thrilled about fans and supporters of other clubs, but don't make a big deal of it. I have never heard an Arsenal fan giving someone grief for not being an Arsenal supporter. Not to say that we won't mock other clubs, or won't have a field day celebrating our wins; we just won't be sore losers or jilted lovers when we don't!

* hopes to share some laughs but also silently prepares for hate comments, popcorn-worthy arguments, and scoreboards/videos/images of every match Arsenal has ever lost to Manchester United *

P.S. - No posts on fans of other clubs because none have annoyed me as much!

Dealing with losses...who's doing it right?

Oh yes! Losses happen! And a loooooooooooooooooot of times!
Even to a once-Invincible team. Because even though the team in invincible in your head and heart, life couldn't care less about either!

And that's not a very nice or easy thing to deal with. Because as a fan you love your team. You want to see your team win no matter what. Even when they play like this:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=585476861507765&set=vb.217066871682101&type=2&theater

Post by Goalie Times.

You want to believe that they played well even if it clearly didn't look like it. You want to be able to blame the referee for wrong decisions. You want to go out and proudly wear that Arsenal jersey and give sly, smug looks to supporters of other clubs. You want to be able to say Arsenal is the best football club in the world (it obviously is) and not be laughed off. But awesomeness doesn't happen always!

Didn't happen for a few matches until Arsenal's game yesterday. And as far as winning silverware is concerned, awesomeness hasn't happened for 8 years now; and there is no saying when it will! Till then, and even after winning, losses will still happen and they will need to be dealt with!

 My personal opinion is that in the current situation, Arsenal's new fans (like yours truly :D) are much better equipped to deal with losses than more veteran fans. The simple reason being that we have only heard of the angst of losing for eight years. We have not truly felt it. We have not seen the repeated cycles of losing focus mid-season...getting THIS close but not winning. Our stint with Arsenal has only seen them play reasonably well, as a result of which we don't really give that much importance to losing one odd game. Of course that's not to say that we are fine with losing. We feel terrible. We hate it. But we just don't end up thinking it's THAT bad. We are blessed with the inherent optimism and hope of victory that comes with not having had to live through a series of losses. And I think that makes us a very very very important link in the collective chain of Arsenal supporters. It's the only thing that can, if at all anyhing can, balance out the cynicism that a lot of veteran fans end up feeling after a loss.

They say, "Damnit, it has always been this way. This is always the time we lose focus." We say, "This year is going to be different." They say, "There are arguments among team members. The unrest won't do us good." We say, "This is the worst of the unrest. Our team will be back soon." They say, "This is bad. And it could get worse." We say, "This is bad. But it could get better!"

And I'm not making these up. These are real conversations I've had. The more I have them, the more I am convinced that new fans are less disturbed by a loss. And it's not because they care less. It's because their eyes are more full of dreams than experience! Which by the way is not a bad thing at all!

The world has always worked that way. There are dreamers and then there are realists. You would expect dreamers to stick with dreamers and realists to stick with the realists. But more often that not, the opposite is true. Because dreamers need realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun and without the dreamers, well, the realists might never get off the ground.

It's us new fans who are the dreamers and veteran fans turned cynics at times, our realists! We need them to keep our feet on the ground and they need us for their hopes to soar a little higher than what seems rational!

When conversations begin with us asking, "So, this Group of Death that Arsenal needs to face in the Champions League, on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is it?" and end with them answering "9.5 if we are lucky and worst case we might not even make it"; we know they are doing their bit very well!

And when conversations begin with them saying, "I am really worried about team morale. We need more than faith now. We need goals and wins." and end us saying, "I will pray for wins and goals. And 3 goals against City is not bad at all. Hi-5!"; or begin with them saying, "We got 2 out of a maximum 9 points. 2nd does not make you champions." and end with us saying "My sweethearts, Giroud and Ramsey, losing their magic, is just to make way for your sweetheart Podolski to come show some magic"; we know we are doing our bit well too!

That's how it will always be! Some of us might not be as dreamy eyed next season, or some of them might get deliriously optimistic and dreamy, depending on how this season goes forth; but there will always exist a perfect balance of love for Arsenal between those who abandon all care in the world, plunge into proclaiming Arsenal Invincible Forever; and those who think, worry, and gently push open a parachute of real statistics and facts, so we land safely on the ground!

Once a Goonerette, always a Goonerette!

If you've read previous blog posts you know how and why the love affair with football came about; and if you were one of the few who read carefully enough to figure out I had said nothing about why I picked Arsenal over all the others, this one's for you!

So well, football happened. And I could give you a great story about how I went all crazy, watched reruns of football games day in and day out, read about the clubs and their achievements, compared players' records, and came to a logical conclusion that Arsenal was the best team to support. But I will spare you all that ball talk; I mean why talk when you can play with it, no?! ;)

Truth of the matter is that I did none of the above. In fact, even after I declared undying support for Arsenal (yes...undying...because contrary to what one might expect from a non-serious fan...I never even considered the option of changing the club I support); I didn't know who the players were or what their achievements were. All I knew was the 8-year spell of no titles.

Two main reasons I ended up supporting Arsenal. One being the sly comment about no Arsenal fan tweeting about winning a trophy and the other being the fact that some of my best guy friends were Arsenal supporters!

Both so random, that they could have almost not even happened! And my life would have been very very different! I could have very easily not been around to hear that comment. I could very well have been absent the day my b-school friends won a bet against Arsenal fans. My best guy friends could have been Chelsea or Manchester City or Manchester United supporters; and maybe I would have ended up disinterested in football or a supporter of some other club. Becoming a Goonerette was more a matter of chance than anything else!

And I was quite happy taking it. Never gave it too much thought. Until life gave me a dose of poetic justice! And proved to me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond doubt that The Universe does have a plan...always. And it ensures that it brings you to the right decision at the right time!

Was 4th of October 2013. Like any other day, my friend and I went for a walk after lunch. But unlike other days, today he decided to stop by and ask the price of an Arsenal jersey. And at that very instant I decided I wanted one! We did ask in a couple of shops, found a not-so-same looking jersey with Walcott on its back. Having had seen just 2-3 games and having known just Ramsey, Giroud, and Ozil; I wasn't too enthused about the Walcott jersey (things have changed now though). Never ended up buying that, but couldn't stay without buying a perfect replica of the original home jersey of the latest season (no away jersey because I'm not a big fan of Yellow and no original because my relationship with Arsenal was too new). One phone call to my sweetheart of a brother was all it took for the jersey to be waiting for me when I got home from office that day!

Now trust me...wearing the jersey for the first time is an EPICALLY MOMENTOUS occasion! To you for sure, and in varying degrees to others depending on the number of f***ks they give to you and your love for football (this is usually negligible).

So well, bad-hair notwithstanding, jersey was bought, picture duly taken and shared, and it was some happy gloating in the attention! Big shout out to Rishi, Nishanth, Hector, Naasir, Sheldon, Melroy, and Karishma! :)

But this was not it. My moment of truth came three days later.

7th October 2013, my Ajoba's birthday, and just a day after I watched Rahul Dravid play his last ever cricket match (was against Mumbai Indians and they won).

It was one of those moments that matter a lot because they define the end of something hugely important. Rahul Dravid has been everything right from my first innocent crush in standard seven to my reason for watching cricket, to my inspiration forever considering the human being par excellence that he is. And his last game got me in the emo/philosophical mode; owing to which I put up this Facebook status:

One of the response comments to that status was this:

That was it! The ecstasy I felt just CANNOT be put into words! My friend thought I had lost my mind. Even I think I really had, for the next 10 minutes. To find out that my most favourite sportsperson ever was a Gooner for reasons vaguely similar to my own, on a day when I was all emo about his last cricket match, which also happened to be the first day I wore my Arsenal jersey was just too WOW! And it was in that moment that I knew; no matter what, I'll be a Goonerette forever!

Even if I am not able to actively follow the season, even if I have lost interest in football, even if my favourite players move to other clubs (hopefully they won't), even if Arsenal sees tough times, I don't think I'll ever support another club!

Well, quite a memorable day that was! My friend and I went to KFC for a brownie sundae that day; him in Arsenal's original away jersey and me in my brand new not-so-original home jersey! And we both spilled chocolate on our jerseys. So the people at KFC must've got something to talk about! Two crazy people in animated conversation, both wearing Arsenal jerseys, both eating brownie and ice-cream, and both wiping chocolate stains off their jerseys while walking away!

Here's to Senior Gooner and Junior Goonerette!

Adios...till I return with  the must-have friend types for a newbie football fan-girl, insights on the species called Manchester United fans, and reasons why newbies are best equipped to deal with team losses! :)