Arsenal legend Jack Wilshere was fined £40,000 after leading a series of anti-Tottenham chants during a trophy parade celebration.
The Gunners recently enjoyed their first trophy parade since 2015, with more than 500,000 fans flooding the streets of Islington to celebrate their Premier League title winners.
The Premier League triumph was the club’s first major honour since the 2020 FA Cup, a final played behind closed doors during the pandemic with no subsequent parade.
That meant the previous open-top bus celebration had taken place 11 years earlier, following Arsenal’s second successive FA Cup victory.
The occasion was marred by controversy when Wilshere took the microphone and immediately directed attention toward the club’s bitter north London rivals.
Wilshere asked the crowd: “I have one question and one question only: what do we think of Tottenham?”
He then added: “And what do we think of ****?” before joining the crowd in chanting: “We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham, we are the Tottenham haters.”
The microphone was taken from Wilshere, but he snatched it back and said: “We have got one more,” before leading another chant referencing Spurs with further expletives.
Arsenal apologised immediately during their in-house broadcast of the event, while Wilshere, then 23, was spoken to by club officials and accused of “overstepping the mark” by former Arsenal striker Niall Quinn.
The FA confirmed their ruling, stating: “Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere has been fined £40,000 and severely warned as to his future conduct after admitting to a charge of misconduct.”
The governing body added that Wilshere “was found guilty of making and/or inciting certain comments during the club’s open bus trophy tour after their FA Cup Final victory, with his conduct deemed to be improper and bringing the game into disrepute.”
Wilshere subsequently issued a public apology on social media, posting: “Sharing back2back Cup wins with so many amazing Gooners is a dream come true. Apologies if I upset or offended any of u with my celebrations.”
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