The moment I heard Arsenal have offered Xhaka counselling was the moment this stopped becoming a football debate. I feel the club have let this issue get out of hand, In essence it’s a grown man telling people swearing at him to f…….
The same would happen if you were sworn at in a pub or shop. Yet the fact Arsenal are going to the lengths of offering him professional help tells me this is more than someone momentarily losing his temper.
Emery mentioned the Swiss feeling ‘not liked’ and that would have been building over a period of time. We have seen video evidence of him stopping outside the Emirates to take pictures, only to be abused with his wife sat next to him. A quick look on his social media accounts show that he gets mocked daily.
Worse, a fan on Arsenal Fan TV at the weekend, admitting he knows the player watches the channel told him to f…….. What is worse is that when that platform was trying to grow it’s numbers, Xhaka happily took time out to talk to them, how many footballers would do that? Of course, no one said to his face what they really thought.
Watch it yourself, see the irony…
How you respond to this will reflect your opinion on depression, a topic which has made strides in terms of young men opening up when feeling distressed. The likes of Lennon and Rose were commended in the summer for speaking about their own mental health.
Now I’m not diagnosing anyone, the player might reject any help and be ordered to say sorry. Yet we have been told he is down and hurting and the fact we as fans have done that makes me feel uncomfortable. If we physically attacked him, we wouldn’t condone that, but why is it okay to mentally hurt a person?
If gooners didn’t know their words were having such an effect, they do now, yet let’s see how many think twice about doing it in future. Some will say the money he earns means this is part of the territory, others will say it sums up the squad’s mentality that our leader might need support.
Again, though you’re making it a footballing issue. If you don’t rate him, think he should be sold, that’s a healthy debate. To shout, swear and troll someone, I can see how that can affect a human being.
You might think it’s a trivial matter for any celebrity and that they should brush it off, but that’s the point of depression. What might not feel like a big deal to you could be to someone else, little things build up in your mind, the brain plays tricks. Xhaka might have something in his personality where he needs to be liked, he seeks that validation and no matter what he tries hate follows him around.
You can preach how he should deal with it but, lets be honest, how many of you are sworn at leaving your place of work being told how rubbish you are? How many of you have to read about it online?
The truth is you could be incompetent but it’s illegal for your boss to verbally abuse you, there are words he can’t say. So well done Arsenal FC for not ticking a PR box by saying sorry, but looking after one of your own first. It’s a shame us fans couldn’t do it, but I hope the dressing room know it’s the minority.
Who knows maybe when Auba and Lacca don’t sign new deals because they don’t want to play in such a toxic atmosphere, certain cowards will get it because they only see football?
I think it’s time to leave Xhaka alone now …. you made your point …….you shamed our club…
Dan Smith