Arsenal slammed by fans as club upload footage of ‘classless’ players ignoring young mascot

Arsenal have been slammed by fans as club upload footage of their ‘classless’ players ignoring a young mascot by not looking at her.

The Gunners has caused controversy after sharing video footage showing their first team squad blanking a young female mascot.

They shared a video of manager Mikel Arteta, his team and the mascot signing a shirt on the way to the dressing rooms at the London Stadium.

Fans were quick to criticise the suddenness of their actions, accusing the fans of not acknowledging the young girl who was looking up at them in admiration while they showed lack of emotion, not even a smile or hug.

Although it’s unclear if she had any more interactions with the players after the video, which could have been included if there were any, many social media users have taken to Twitter to condemn the Arsenal stars for their ‘rudeness’ and blatant lack of class.

Arsenal captioned the video ‘Making memories with our mascot’, but one replied: ‘Memories of being blanked by your heroes.’

Making memories with our mascot ❤️ pic.twitter.com/LjGWmzd2Vl

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 16, 2023

“What does it take just to go ‘hi’?”

“I understand you’re in a pre-match routine, but just a little interaction goes a long way.”

🔴 Laura Woods reacts to a clip of #AFC players appearing to ignore a young mascot. pic.twitter.com/MlZXTJ5UN5

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) April 18, 2023

Nick Knowles took aim at Arsenal, calling on the club to make amends for failing to engage with the mascot.

Knowles wrote: ‘I suggest @Arsenal you get her and her family back and give your players another go at being decent human beings – admittedly they’d have to be coached into it but it might be something that sticks with some of them if it’s pointed out’.

Later that afternoon, Arsenal suffered a major dent to their Premier League title hopes after blowing a two-goal lead for the second successive week.

The 2-2 draw at Liverpool after initially leading 2-0, was followed up with a 2-2 draw at West Ham despite scoring twice inside the opening 10 minutes.

As a result, they now lead Man City at the top of the standings by just four points having played a game more than their title rivals, and with a showdown between the two clubs to come at the Etihad Stadium next week.

West Ham: Fabianski (6); Coufal (6), Kehrer (6), Zouma (7), Cresswell (8); Rice (9), Soucek (6), Paqueta (6); Bowen (7), Antonio (8), Benrahma (6)

Subs: Downes (n/a), Cornet (n/a), Fornals (n/a), Downes (n/a)

Arsenal: Ramsdale (5); White (7), Holding (6), Gabriel (5), Tierney (6); Partey (5), Xhaka (6), Odegaard (7); Saka (5), Jesus (7), Martinelli (7)

Subs: Jorginho (6), Trossard (5), Fabio Vieira (n/a), Nelson (n/a), Nketiah (n/a)

Player of the match: Declan Rice (West Ham)

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta speaking to BBC 5 Live: “We started incredibly well, dominated the game, dominated the pitch, and scored two beautiful goals. After that, we made a huge mistake; not to continue playing, to score the third and the fourth.

“We started keeping the ball and giving sloppy passes away. We allowed them [West Ham] transition moments, and did not dominate the direct play. And then it’s game on. If you concede the goals that we conceded, the first one and the second one, and on top of that you don’t score a penalty, in this league you are in big trouble.

On giving West Ham hope to get back into the game: “It’s the story of the game. The penalty of course is a game changer, in that moment, because two minutes later you concede a goal. But how we have to behave after 2-0 is very different to what we did, and on top of that we conceded two very sloppy goals.

On Arsenal being ‘too comfortable’: “I think so. Too comfortable just playing around them. And when a team is there [for the taking], you have to take that opportunity. We gave them hope.

“Credit to West Ham, because they realised there was something [to play for], and they grabbed it with both hands. They were really aggressive, really direct, and they caused us problems.”

Speaking to BBC Sport, West Ham boss David Moyes said: “The Thursday to Sunday football is never an easy gig but it is one we are enjoying. When you go 2-0 down to Arsenal you’re not sure how to get back into this. We put them under pressure when we could but they scored two goals with their quality and it’s great credit to the players they stuck at it.

“Our three midfield players did a great job in trying to nullify Arsenal as best they could. At times you don’t get it right but at times you do. Jarrod has played well in recent weeks and he is getting back to it, his goal was typical Jarrod, hoping to get a sniff and it came. There were moments in it where they had a bit of possession and we had to sit in the shape.

“It would have been a good result getting a point anyway but going 2-0 down and coming back shows great character. The games are coming thick and fast and the players are doing a really good job.”

As mentioned, Arsenal were slammed by fans as the club upload footage of ‘classless’ players ignoring the young mascot…

@EmmaHam41: Memories of being blanked by your heroes.

@nick_davison10: How can you, the @Arsenal admin, look at this video and expect anybody your prayers to be able to take any form of credit from this How about you invite her back and make your players acknowledge her and maybe even speak to her. Poor kid.

@duncanyoung68: I hope other clubs use this as how NOT to treat a mascot. Pathetic on so many levels and if you need to know why then you’re part of the problem. Do better!

@Emily_1010x: She’d have far better memories if one of them gave eye contact or were bothered to acknowledge the girl. Rude and entitled springs to mind!

@stefdcfc89: Absolute PR disaster here. Strongly advise you get this young lady and her family back and make these over paid bottle jobs speak to her.

@relyeadarren: Look how happy she is to see them and not one player interacts with her. Way to go lads. Hope she had a great day and what isn’t on camera was a lot nicer than this

@Sammydwills: Wow, memories that will last a lifetime, one day she’ll be an old lady telling her grandchildren about the day she got ignored by every member of the Arsenal squad 👌🏻

@roblee7: Horrible this. Not a single one even bothers to acknowledge her, look at her, talk to her, half of them can’t even be arsed taking their earphones out 😡😡

@MollyShep: These lads have clearly forgotten that they all started off as a kid with a dream, a love of the game and wish to meet their idol. So disappointing that nobody spoke to her and some didn’t even sign the shirt😒😱

@andrewstevo39: Embarrassing… Think Ben White was the only one who made some sort of gesture toward her. 🤯 Before people moan saying ” what do you expect them to do” a simple ‘Hello’ would suffice 🤔

@AndyArsenal17: Yeah great memory. Literally every single player didn’t even look at her and offer a fist bump and a smile. Seemed more like a chore than making the young girls day 👎🏼

@SouthBankMatt: I genuinely feel really sorry for her here. She looks so happy to meet her heroes and not even an acknowledgment from any of them. Players need to do so much better than this.

@LeeW1875: Yeh memories… “Remember that time when the squad signed my shirt and blatantly ignored me” grim…

@OWS1892: Why do they all ignore her? What is wrong with them?

@G_Nibs: Absolutely disgusting that the players don’t even have the manners to acknowledge the little girl standing there. Making memories alright, she’ll never forget how rude they all are!!

@Gemma_Dorling: Feel so sorry for this girl. Not one interaction or acknowledgment, damn some of them couldn’t even be bothered to take their headphones out. Feel so lucky that ours girls sporting hero’s have always been so generous with their time and attention.

@emilyhewertson: Not even a quick “hello”… if this is the sort of player-fan interaction you think is social media worthy, I dread to think how the players behave when the cameras aren’t rolling.

@Jordan_Neale: Memories? No one even spoke to the girl… even a Hello how you doing would have made her day even more

@katie42150288: This is so poor. My son was mascot for villa where Emi Martinez took 2 minutes to speak him after noticing he had the same gloves. Made his whole year! Wouldn’t hurt this lot to at least say hello!

@DomTrippett: What memories is she making? Not even a hello to the little girl. Headphones in and don’t even acknowledge her?! Not one player could even spare her even 2 seconds let alone a few mins

Contrast this to when my daughter was mascot for Sunderland. Every player said hello to her and spoke to her. This is how it should be done Arsenal. #safc pic.twitter.com/F7RflzYBxk

— Alan Reay (@Alan_Reay) April 17, 2023