Jack Wilshere has been reminded of his responsibilities by Arsenal after leading foul-mouthed songs mocking Tottenham Hotspur following an open-top bus parade to celebrate winning the FA Cup.
Wilshere took the microphone outside the Emirates Stadium, with the rest of the squad alongside him, and shouted to thousands of Arsenal fans below: “I have one question, and one question only: what do we think of Tottenham?” After the crowd responded: “Shit”, he continued: “And what do we think of shit?” He then joined in as the crowd sang: “We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham … we are the Tottenham haters.”
Wilshere, who came through the Arsenal youth ranks, continued with a song which pointed out that, for a 20th season running, the club have finished above their fiercest rivals: “It’s happened again, Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again.”
The microphone was then taken off the midfielder but he retrieved it, saying: “We have got one more.” When the 23-year-old started the chant “My old man said be a Tottenham fan …”, which when sung in full includes more expletives aimed at Spurs, Arsenal broke off from the live broadcast on their in-house media channel.
The studio presenter immediately apologised for any offence caused by the England international’s remarks. The Arsenal supporters responded with chants of “Super Jack Wilshere”.
Wilshere has been ticked off by Arsenal, although it is understood the club are not treating it as a serious incident. He may find the issue is raised with him by the Football Association when he joins up with the England squad for the forthcoming friendly in the Republic of Ireland and Euro 2016 qualifier in Slovenia. It is possible the FA could take formal disciplinary action over the incident.
At last year’s FA Cup victory parade Wilshere also started a foul-mouthed song about Tottenham – the first of those he sang on Sunday – though on that occasion from the bus. Other Arsenal players, including Ray Parlour and Ian Wright have done similar in the past.
Wilshere has been reprimanded by Arsenal over other off-field incidents in recent years. He has twice been pictured smoking, first outside a London nightclub in 2013 and then while on holiday in Las Vegas last year. In February he was pictured with a shisha pipe. Arsenal’s manager, Arsène Wenger, has emphasised that the player is not a smoker.
Arsenal fans turned out in large numbers despite the rain to greet the squad as they travelled by bus from the Emirates Stadium to Islington Town Hall and then back to the stadium to mark the 4-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday which secured a record 12th FA Cup triumph and a sixth for Wenger.
Wilshere came off the bench after 77 minutes against Villa and was involved in the goal for Olivier Giroud in stoppage time.