Embattled Arsenal footballer, Mesut Ozil has expressed his happiness over the return of Gunnersaurus to the Emirate Stadium after over a month of being laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic that has hindered fans from attending live games.
Jerry Quy who has been playing the role of Gunnersaurus at the Emirate Stadium for 27 years was among the 55 non-playing staff that Arsenal laid off due to the financial difficulties the club has been subjected to since the pandemic halted football in March.
Recall that since mid-March 2020, clubs in the United Kingdom have been unable to host spectators at their stadiums due to the coronavirus pandemic. Spectators at match venues used to be clubs’ major source of income; hence, their absence has resulted in revenue loss for most clubs including Arsenal as they are forced to play behind closed doors.
So, when Arsenal announced that the mascot was one of the non-playing staff at the club that would have to go, Mesut Ozil tried to take advantage of the situation by promising to continue paying the salary of the mascot as long as he remained at the club.
The German footballer who earns £350,000-per-week at Arsenal has not been used by the club since June 2020. The situation has become so bad that he is not part of Arsenal’s Premier League and Europa League squad for this season despite still having almost a season left on his contract with the club.
Hence, he has been trying all he could to get himself back to the heart of the club and he has been doing that heavily via social media. But that has not yielded much result; even the promise that he would continue to pay the salary of Gunnersaurus to keep the mascot at the club has not been able to save his career at the club.
Yet, Ozil has failed to give up as he immediately quoted a tweet Gunnersaurus shared to announce its return to Arsenal on Tuesday, November 10. The Arsenal’s mascot tweeted, “Back at Emirates Stadium today”. Ozil replied, “Happy to see you back where you belong.”
Happy to see you back where you belong 👍🏼#YaGunnersYa https://t.co/6vffAervHI
— Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) November 10, 2020
On Arsenal’s part, a spokesperson for the club claimed that the dinosaur mascot had never left the club. “As we’ve always said Gunnersaurus is an important part of Arsenal and a popular figure for our fans around the world”, the club said.
“Gunner never went away but due to the virus restrictions there have been limited opportunities for him to appear in public.”
Though Gunnersaurus is back, it is not clear whether it is Jerry Quy who is still wearing the mascot or whether the club appointed another person to continue acting the role of the Gunnersaurus. The mascot is expected to be on parade on November 28 when Arsenal return to the Emirate Stadium to play Wolves in the league.
