One Gunner with true grit... and the idiots booed him

makes Granit Xhaka

as his feelings clear

pitch he leaves the at Emirates

Stadium

GETTING SHIRTY

WHAT a shame Granit Xhaka felt the need to utter the word ‘sorry’ when he finally spoke out about his treatment at the hands of Arsenal’s boo-boys.

He didn’t exactly apologise for telling them all to ‘ f*** off ’ as the abuse came raining down on him last Sunday.

It was more of a cursory nod to those who perhaps hadn’t fully understood the root of his actions.

But the fact he felt the need to say the word ‘sorry’ even once – or more likely was coerced into saying it – is a joke, given the despicable treatment he has been subjected to in person and on social media.

Those Arsenal fans who booed him ought to have apologised to Xhaka, not the other way round.

And let’s hope that large numbers of those who did turn on him have regretted their actions, because they were nothing short of bullying.

No footballer deserves that level of abuse and the fact he gave them a bit back, and has essentially refused to back down in the days that followed, is a credit to him.

Given his father’s experiences as a political prisoner in the former Yugoslavia, Xhaka knows only too well where football lies on the spectrum of what’s really important in life.

The same can’t be said for spoilt brats who turned on him so viciously because the team they support aren’t as good as they were a decade ago.

These supporters wouldn’t last a minute following one of the 86 clubs outside the top six, clubs whose fans accept there’s no God- given right to be battling for trophies year in, year out.

Or in some cases even once in a lifetime.

And in the days and weeks to come, hopefully Arsenal fans will ask themselves what it feels like to know how much they hurt one of their own, just like they did 11 years ago when they turned on Emmanuel Eboue and made him cry.

They should ask themselves what sort of character they want leading their team – a team whose mentality has been questioned for years.

A wallflower who bows down at the faintest whiff of an argument?

Or someone, like Xhaka, who will stick up for himself and his team regardless of those against him? As reporters, we get to spend a limited amount of time talking to players after matches and, at Arsenal, getting one of them to stop, particularly after a defeat, is increasingly difficult.

It’s not like we want to grill them on Brexit. Or get their take on the

I

WISHWI Ssean

Dychedche success in his campaign for children to learn the art of heading using sponge balls. It is a great idea from the Burnley boss a week after results were published proving a link between headingg footballs and brain

injuries. tensions in the Middle East. It’s not even like we want to ask if they’re still angry that Amber and Greg beat Curtis and Maura to win Love Island.

Because, you know, Greg had barely been in there five minutes.

No, we just want to ask them for their thoughts on the game they’ve just played and the game coming up.

Or for them to give us, and therefore the fans, a bit of an insight into the goings on at their club.

Xhaka is one of the few Arsenal players who regularly fronts up in that situation.

And he always tells it like it is, rather than making excuses.

With that in mind, it was easy to see why his character made him a popular choice of captain within the club.

And why he won’t be tugging his forelock to those fans who think that handing over their money, however sizeable the amount, gives them the right to hurl abuse, and treat other people in any way they want, without any comeback at all.