Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang must disengage from toxic culture

Arsenal fan culture is toxic, and a lot of that comes down to a certain YouTube channel. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang absolutely must remove himself from them.

Arsenal have enough problems on their hands on the pitch and off the pitch. Between Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka and the drama between their stay at the club, there’s more than enough to handle. The last thing we need is another headache, and that’s what Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is risking.

Granted, you can’t police what players do off the pitch. You can try to influence them and guide them to the right decisions, but certain players are more independent than others, and Aubameyang appears to be one.

The Gabon international has been a regular “liker” of some of the piggish posts put out by a certain YouTube channel that claims to be representative of Arsenal fans around the world. Fun fact, they aren’t. But as is always the case, the loudest and vilest often win the spotlight.

It’s one thing to engage with fan platforms when those platforms are supported by the fans. That’s kind of the point. But it’s another thing to do what Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is doing, engaging and regularly interacting with a certain Arsenal “fan” group that is responsible for so much of the toxicity in this fan base.

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I was just having a discussion yesterday about why this fanbase, of all the rest, is so toxic and cannibalistic. There are so many sects and factions that fight amongst each other that it’s impossible to raise a unified voice in support of a struggling club, the club we all love.

It’s hard to pinpoint an exact cause, probably because there are multiple causes, but it has to be said that one of the major causes is having a “fan” show that does nothing but rip and berate and degrade not just the players, but the people as well. It’s pathetic, it’s pointless, and it has to be stamped out.

Most fans have taken the high road and made the move to block and/or ignore them. But that becomes harder to do when players like Aubameyang clearly support them. It’s disturbing that he would, given how truly awful they are.

I really hope that Aubameyang will wise up and realize the part that these kinds of platforms play in undermining the betterment of the club. I hope that he can pull the plug on his support of them. They don’t deserve to have a player’s attention when the fans don’t even like them. And certainly not our captain.