Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has stepped in to save the club’s giant Gunnersaurus from extinction after it was revealed that Jerry Quy, who has played the role of the dinosaur mascot since 1993, had been released, reported AFP.
Gunnersaurus has been let go as part of cost-cutting measures since stadiums empty during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Ozil in a tweet on Tuesday said, “I was so sad that Jerry Quy aka our famous & loyal mascot @Gunnersaurus and integral part of our club was being made redundant after 27 years.”
He added, “As such, I’m offering to reimburse @Arsenal with the full salary of our big green guy as long as I will be an Arsenal player…”
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A GoFundMe page titled “Save Gunnersaurus” too has already raised over £10,000 ($13,000). A statement on the page reads, “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 of, let’s keep our all-time top scorer on top.”
Ozil is the club’s highest earner, on a reported £300,000 ($390,000) per week, although he has not played a minute for the FA Cup winners since before the coronavirus lockdown in March.
Arsenal had announced in August that they were planning to cut 55 jobs due to the damaging effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the club’s finances since their main sources of income had all been hit, including broadcast revenue, matchday takings and commercial activity.
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It can be assumed that Gunnersaurus will return when fans are allowed back into stadiums but it is unclear whether Jerry will be inside the costume or not.
