2 days Ago
Danny woke up on Monday morning to head for school and made sure to pack a pen in his backpack. He figured he would need it now he was famous. He perfected his signature and was a busy boy meeting the demand of friends who had seen him capture the footballing imagination on TV and become a viral hit the day before.
Advertisement As overnight sensations go, Danny, aged eight, the Arsenal mascot for their victory at Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby with the sharp haircut and big-game attitude, had a whirlwind of a day. It started calmly enough and followed the normal routine for a mascot in the build-up to kick-off. Danny was met at reception and taken to the room where all the mascots change and are taken care of until their duties close to kick-off.
He was outnumbered by the Spurs contingent, but it was OK. They had a PlayStation, so Danny naturally chose to be Arsenal and took on all-comers. Then it was time to head for the tunnel — and the moment that catapulted Danny into the stuff of Arsenal legend.
Live on Sky Sports, broadcast to the nation and beyond, the presenter sounded amazed as Danny, with a mischievous grin, was captured ordering a bunch of his Tottenham counterparts away from his team’s players. “Keep your eye on the mascots here,” said David Jones . “There’s the Arsenal one getting involved: leave our players alone!” The North London derby rivalry starts young 😂 pic.
twitter.com/uFzFCaVENN — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 15, 2024 For Danny, it was a natural reaction. “I thought, why are they high-fiving my players? I said to them: ‘If you want to high-five our players, join Arsenal!’” Meanwhile, Danny’s dad, Tom, was in the visitors’ section with the away fans, completely oblivious.
The instructions for parents were to wait until the kids had left the pitch and then make their way around the concourse to pick them up and take them back to their seats to watch the game. Danny’s mum was on collection duty and as the match got underway, Tom’s phone pinged with a message from his cousin, who sent him a clip of the scenes from the tunnel. Tom was flabbergasted.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he recalls. In some ways, this was classic Danny. He’s full of character, a bubbly boy, football-mad, energetic and spontaneous.
And he is completely indoctrinated in the ways of Arsenal. He got his first kit at three months old, wanders around the house cuddling his toy Gunnersaurus, and has a framed picture of legends on his bedroom wall. Who’s that? “Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry!” he announces proudly.
Advertisement As a Junior Gunner, one of the perks of membership is the chance to be a mascot and a few weeks ago an email popped up informing him he had been selected for the Tottenham away match. “I was very proud. I was jumping up and down and taking my top off and shouting in my back garden,” he says, demonstrating by pogoing and throwing himself joyously to the ground, limbs everywhere.
Both clubs were great in the communication and support they gave to mascots ahead of the big day. Arsenal sent tickets and a home kit (and then once the FA announced there would be an enforced change to the away kit, they sent that and told Danny he could keep the home kit anyway). Tottenham were in touch to give all the information about where and when to come and how the mascots would be looked after.
Tom thought he ought to prepare his boy for the occasion. “I did warn him, because of where it was, to be prepared for a hostile atmosphere,” he says. “I thought it would be very noisy and I didn’t want him to feel too intimidated.
He was very nervous on the way up there. In the changing room, he was twitchy, you could see he was nervous. They were good kids, all playing FIFA together.
There were a lot of them and they had to line up, smallest to tallest, and it was just Danny on his own. They were all giving him the thumbs down. But it was all in a good spirit.
“I don’t know what happened, but by the time he was in the tunnel, it looked like he owned the stadium.” Danny was suddenly in his element, a boy transformed. “ When I got to the football pitch, the nerves went away somehow,” he says.
“Being mascot means I got to run out and hold hands with the players. Mostly I spoke to (David) Raya and Jorginho .” The players warmed to the little guy and there is a picture of Danny puffing his chest out with Jorginho stifling giggles behind him.
It will soon enter into Arsenal cultural folklore as the graffiti artist Northbansky plans to add it to his collection adorning the tunnel on Hornsey Road by the northern entrance to the Emirates. – Showed the Spurs kids who's boss in the tunnel. – Lead the team out to glory.
– Puffed his chest all through the 90'. – Grabbed all 3 points at an away ground. I've never seen a kid with so much AURA in my life.
pic.twitter.com/juF1zxCN7u — ARTETA'S REVENGE! (@jeffrey_dalyop_) September 15, 2024 What an experience.
Danny was able to get his Brazil shirt signed by Arsenal’s assortment of Gabriels and goalie gloves autographed by Raya. He also wonders if he might have helped the team somehow. “My dad said he thinks (Mikel) Arteta showed the players the video in the half-time team talk and told them they should be as aggressive as me!” Tom’s phone has been non-stop with notifications since.
The response has been overwhelming, with messages coming in globally, from Australia to India, Kosovo to Singapore. The @SpursOfficial v @Arsenal rivalry extends beyond the pitch 😤 Which mascot are you backing? ⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.
com/L4yzk1C8HW — Premier League (@premierleague) September 16, 2024 Danny’s incredible day did not end at the stadium. On the way to the game, they had passed The Shard, the iconic London landmark, and when Danny was wowed by it, in a moment of madness his dad said they would go there for dinner if Arsenal won. So, thanks to Gabriel’s winner, Danny ended up high over London, having a slap-up Chinese meal.
Advertisement Being a sudden sensation has been a thrill and 24 hours after the game, Danny is still in his kit, bouncing about. Quite how he comes back down to earth is hard to say, but he just comes across as a lively lad who is enthusiastic about whatever comes his way. “He’s very outgoing, silly, immature, fun, very sweet, sensitive and affectionate.
He is a good boy,” says Tom. He was quite brave, too, outnumbered, in enemy territory, standing up for himself and his tribe. “I did boxing and rugby before, so I don’t get scared,” adds Danny.
Another cuddle with Gunnersaurus and he’s off to training like any other football-mad eight-year-old..
