Arsenal’s Mascot ‘Gunnersaurus’ Appears to be Saved From Extinction

The people have spoken, and it appears they will get their wish. Arsenal will keep their weird dinosaur mascot “Gunnersaus” after all. However, it is unclear who will be taking over under the suit.

Arsenal announced on Aug. 5 that Jerry Quy, who played Gunnersaurus for 27 years, was being laid off.

“Our aim has been to protect the jobs and base salaries of our people for as long as we possibly can. Unfortunately, we have now come to the point where we are proposing 55 redundancies,” the club said in a statement released on August 5.

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Gunnersaurus had such a following that a petition was set up to ensure the dumb dinosaur mascot would still be a part of the fun at Emirates Stadium. On Monday, a GoFundMe page for was set up by a fan and has already raised almost £9,000. That page released a statement regarding their love for Gunnersaurus. “Gunnersaurus has been the Arsenal club mascot for 27 years. He’s a club icon and we cannot let him become extinct,” the statement said.

Arsenal fans weren’t the only ones who were up in arms about the possible removal of Gunnersaurus. Arsenal player Mesut Ozil went as far as saying he would pay for the mascot to stick around.

Mesut Ozil has offered to reimburse Arsenal for the salary of Gunnersaurus if they give the mascot his job back.

— Sky Sports (@SkySports) October 6, 2020

I don’t really see what the big deal is here, it’s just a mascot. But it seems like people really love this big, dumb thing.

It seems like fans and players can all take a deep exhale, as it appears Gunnersaurus will be alive and well at Emirates Stadium once fans are allowed to return. I think the real question is just whether or not Jerry Quy will remain under the costume. The man’s been doing it for 27 years, don’t take it away from him now.

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