Fund-raising campaign to save Gunnersaurus – Arsenal's mascot for 27 years

Report states mascot's role no longer deemed necessary

Arsenal's mascot Gunnersaurus has served the club for 27 years. Getty

A fund-raising page has been set up for long-serving Arsenal mascot Gunnersaurus after it was reported he had been let go by the club.

The Athletic reported Gunnersaurus, who has been the club's mascot for 27 years – even before Arsene Wenger arrived at the club – has been asked to leave with his role no longer deemed necessary as fans are not able to attend matches.

As a result, a GoFundMe page for Jerry Quy, who has played the dinosaur mascot since 1993, has been set up.

A statement on the page read: "Gunnersaurus has been the Arsenal club mascot for 27 years. He's a club icon and we cannot let him become extinct.

"Played by lifelong fan Jerry Quy, it would be a terrible shame to lose him. The mascot league is the only one we've consistently been on top off, let's keep our all time top scorer on top."

The report of Gunnersaurus' departure drew criticism on social media, with Arsenal fan and TV presenter Piers Morgan saying on Twitter: "WHAT? This had better not be true. Is it @Arsenal ??!".

Gary Lineker tweeted: "Shouldn't be necessary, but it might be a good move and an act of kindness for the @Arsenal players and manager to club together and sort out this absurdity."

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