Mark Bonnick has been a devoted Arsenal fan for so long that he can’t quite pinpoint when it all began. His passion for the team runs deep in his family, with his grandson Noah already donning a Gunners’ toddler kit, as proudly displayed in Bonnick’s WhatsApp profile picture.
As Mikel Arteta’s squad embarks on what could be the most momentous two weeks in the club’s history, potentially ending with triumphs in both the Premier League and European championships, Bonnick, like any other Arsenal supporter, should be brimming with anticipation. Yet, his relationship with the club is complicated, colored by recent personal events.
“I still support Arsenal and will back them this week and in the Champions League final,” Bonnick shares, reflecting on the upcoming crucial matches. “They are my team, and I can separate my support for them from the club itself.”
On the eve of Christmas in 2024, Bonnick was caught off guard by a call that ended his two-decade-long tenure with the club. His journey began at the academy under Liam Brady’s leadership, eventually leading to his role as full-time kit manager in 2013. Watching Arsenal play now evokes memories of young talents like Bukayo Saka, who emerged from the Hale End academy.
“Working for the club you love is like a dream job,” says the 63-year-old Bonnick. However, his dream unraveled in a matter of days in December when Arsenal summoned him for a disciplinary hearing. The issue stemmed from his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, regarding Israel and the conflict in Gaza. A complaint labeled these posts as anti-Semitic.
“I was suspended instantly and brought in for a hearing on December 20th. I wasn’t allowed to defend myself. The meeting was swift, no longer than 10 minutes, and no new evidence was considered,” Bonnick describes. “The decision-makers stepped out to deliberate, yet no conclusion was reached that day.”
Happier times: Mark Bonnick (fourth from left, middle row) with the Arsenal Under 18 squad in 2018, including future stars Bukayo Saka (third from left, front row)
‘I left the room, walked out and I remember this security guard coming to me, he was someone who I was very friendly with, I like to think I got on with most people in and around Arsenal, and he was quite upset and said that he needed to take my access pass. I didn’t really think anything of it, gave it to him.
‘And then, on Christmas Eve, I get the call to say that I have been sacked,’ Bonnick recalls. By the time of the disciplinary hearing, he had already taken himself off Twitter.
‘When the pile-on started about one of my posts, initiated by this anonymous account called Never Again, I showed my daughter and she advised me to get off social media. Which I did, for the club’s sake. But that didn’t matter to them.’
Bonnick said he was accused of being a ‘neo-Nazi’ and an ‘anti-Semite’ for his social media posts and that Arsenal had initially told him he had been suspended for anti-Semitism following a complaint against him. He said that both the club and Football Association later accepted he had not been anti-Semitic and that the FA had found his comments ‘not to be inflammatory, not to be offensive, but to be political’.
He appealed his sacking, although his treatment in that hearing by the club left a sour taste.
‘I brought up how Professor David Miller at Bristol University was sacked for expressing similar beliefs, and one of those at the hearing said “well, he’s an academic”. As if I was just a thick kitman and couldn’t have an opinion.’
He also told the appeals panel that Arsenal had previously defended players’ freedom to express personal views, referencing a club statement related to Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Elneny after he made pro-Palestinian posts on social media.
Statement: Arsenal defended Mohamed Elneny over similar social media posts to Bonnick
‘They asked me where did I get that statement and I just told them I googled it and it was there,’ Bonnick says, pointing out that it was 2021 when the club defended Elneny.
He has been told that both the FA and Kick It Out, English football’s anti-discrimination body, have reviewed the matter and did not identify any wrongdoing or evidence of anti-Semitism. In the end, Arsenal deemed that he had brought the club ‘into disrepute’.
A legal case against Arsenal remains ongoing, with both sides due to go to mediation in June. Bonnick, who had hoped to work at the club until he retired at 67, has been forced to go on the building sites and work for his son. ‘It’s not good doing that sort of hard manual labour at my age,’ he says.
However, Bonnick has been heartened by the number of people that have come out to support him, including many Arsenal supporters’ groups. He has also been contacted by a former Gunners star from the continent, who he doesn’t want to name publicly, who told him to remain strong.
‘The support I have got from around football has been very heartening. Any time I have gone to the Emirates since all of this kicked off, you would have a bit of anxiety and you would be worried that something might be said to you. But any supporters that have come up to me have been 100 per cent supportive and most of them talk about how badly the club have handled this.
On a roll: Arsenal players celebrate with fans after their Champions League win over Atletico
‘I remember a few weeks after it all kicked off, I had to do a television piece. We did it in front of the Emirates, outside the Little Wonder Café. And I was doing this piece to camera and these two Newcastle fans came up to me and I was worried that they were going to kick off, but these two Geordie lads came up and said they were sorry what had happened me and respected me for what I did.’
And Bonnick insists that he doesn’t regret making any of the social media posts. When he explains why he did it and wrote the posts, he reflects on his childhood, growing up as the youngest of six children in a council house outside of London.
‘I was one of six kids, the youngest, and we grew up in a three-bedroom council house, and we were always told to stand up to bullies. And that is what I did, I was standing up to a bully and was standing against oppression and illegal occupation.
‘So, do I regret it? No. You shouldn’t regret standing up for something that is right. And to be honest, I don’t think this is a question of politics, it is about morality and humanity.’
Last week, Bonnick added his name to Irish Sport for Palestine’s letter to the FAI, asking them to reconsider the decision to play the two Nations League games against Israel, the start of their Stop the Game campaign.
‘I had no hesitation doing that. I don’t know how Israel are still allowed to compete in international football, and international sport, when Russia was banned almost immediately following the invasion of Ukraine. It’s one rule for one and one rule for another.’
How Bonnick has been treated shows why so few in the world game are willing to put themselves forward and stand up for Palestine. He points out that Pep Guardiola did so in a recent speech and it got very little traction, although Lamine Yamal did wave a Palestinian flag very prominently at Barcelona’s title celebrations last week.
Political: Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal holds a Palestinian flag as he celebrates with his teammates on an open top bus after winning the Spanish La Liga title last May
‘I never thought I was going to make a big difference, but like a bird carrying water to put out a fire, maybe one drop can lead to a cascade. It was brilliant to hear Pep talk about it, but again it wasn’t covered as much as you would have thought.
‘And there is a fear out there of cancellation of you say anything. I do think that exists among footballers and managers. They just don’t want to speak up. I did it because I felt what was going on was wrong, and I still feel what is going on is wrong.’
He will watch Arsenal’s Premier League game against Burnley tomorrow evening. He might even go to it, as he remains a season ticket holder, although these days, more often than not, he gives that to family or friends.
As the Gunners close in on a long-overdue league title, Bonnick will be cheering them on. There are players, such as Saka, who he has worked with, managed their kit, and it remains his football team, if no longer his club.
‘A football team is with you for life, and I have been an Arsenal fan all my life, so I have learned to separate that from the club this season. Have had to, just to be able to enjoy the games and what Mikel has been doing,’
Buzzing: Mikel Arteta embraces Martin Odegaard after the win over West Ham
There’s a big event in the Bonnick household next weekend when his daughter Natalie is getting married – to a Mayo man. It could be a double celebration next week, with Arsenal clinching the title. And there’s also the small matter of the Champions League final.
He will find a way to separate what has gone on with cheering on a team on the cusp of history. He hopes that the whole episode can be concluded in June, with mediation, but also wants the club to learn some lessons.
‘When I think of the values that the club says that it espouses and lives by, all I can think is that talk is cheap and words are cheap. It’s easy to say things, but you have to live by those values. That is what integrity is, and that is why I am standing by what I said in standing up for the Palestinian people.
Club man: Bonnick working with Arsenal
‘And that’s what I hope the club will do with this. Look at themselves, revisit the case and see what they have done and how they have handled all of this. Get someone to do an independent review and see what they did wrong and what they can do to make things right and just make sure that they don’t make the same mistakes and others don’t go through what I went through. But I wouldn’t hold my breath about that happening,’ Bonnick says.
Even against the backdrop of everything that has happened, Mark Bonnick will be determined to enjoy these next 13 days as best he can. He’s still an Arsenal fan – and that means a supporter of the team, not the club.
