Dad plays brilliant trick to get his son to support Arsenal

One father and Arsenal fan found an exceptional way to ensure his son remained a loyal Gooner despite expressing interest in shifting allegiance to Liverpool Football Club.

Paul Gardiner from Kent was not pleased when his six-year-old son Charlie said he wanted to start backing Liverpool or Man City over the north London team so decided to take matters into his own hands and pen a fake letter to him from Arsenal players Arsene Wenger and Alexis Sanchez.

Speaking to i100 Paul said: "[Charlie] came home one day and said he wanted to support Liverpool and Man City like his friends. I guess when you're that age you do want to be like your friends."

The letter in full reads:

Dear Charlie,

I spoke to your dad this morning and was upset to learn you want to support Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC like your friends.

Both myself and the players, especially Alexis Sanchez who I know is your favourite player, love having you as an Arsenal supporter and hope you carry on supporting us for many years along with your Daddy.

We hope we can the league & FA Cup this year, we are currently top of the league and as I am sure you know, we have won the FA Cup in the last two years. Why would you want to support Liverpool – a club who haven’t won anything for many years?

I have told your daddy to bring you and your sister Evie to watch a game at Arsenal soon, Alexis has told me he can’t wait for you to see him play and he will try to score lots of goals for you.

Listen to your daddy when he says Arsenal is the best – he is right!

We look forward to having you at Arsenal very soon.

Kind regards,

Arsene Wenger and Alexis Sanchez

"I thought he would appreciate it and be excited when he got a letter from Arsenal - something different to tell his friends about, and who knows they may decide to support Arsenal... I posted it through the letter box then ran around to the back of the house and came in, that was for added authenticity," he told i100.

I hope he will be a life long Gooner, he has been to the Emirates [stadium] a few times and is actively interested so fingers crossed I don't have to write another letter!

Paul's letter struck a chord on Twitter, with comedian Jack Whitehall applauding him on his originality and stating that his granddad locked him in the shed when he said he wanted to support Man U.