When football meets Facebook

If there’s one thing that could be said for the good old days, it’s that a footballer would never be able to share his true feelings with thousands of people. Or stupid enough. Social networking sites have again hit the news in recent weeks for getting footballers into trouble, and all because they forget that twitter enables your thoughts to be read by actual people who might just tell someone else if you’ve said something out of turn.

One of the first things that should be taught to a footballer, it’s that the media and a clubs perception plays a crucial role in the modern game. The reason why managers are full of grace in a pre-match press conference is because they know that if they let their true feelings be known, there will be a storm of unwanted publicity which not only makes the club look bad, but can affect results on the pitch. The same should be said for social networking sites; if you say or do something which will be read by other people then think before you speak. Imagine if Sir Alex Ferguson tweeted before a Manchester derby ‘Can’t wait to lay into the scum, reds for life, gonna be a massive slaughter in Mosside tonight.’

A prominent case in point; Ryan Babel posting a picture of referee Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt following Liverpool’s 1-0 F.A. Cup defeat last week. Did he not conceivably imagine that no-one could find this ‘biased’ in any way? Naturally, he was promptly reprimanded, made himself look rather foolish and fined £10,000.

The power in the media is so strong that this rule applies not only to Premiership players; 2 weeks ago Aldershot striker Marvin Morgan was transfer listed and fined 2 weeks wages for posting a twitter rant about fans showing their frustration, ending with a phrase that will end up on his epitaph; ‘I hope you all die’. Charming.

And in a more recent case, Cardiff City striker Jay Bothroyd has been twittering about the poor state of training pitches at their plush Vale of Glamorgan training facilities as well as that of the Cardiff City Stadium. Such a rant won’t be welcomed with open arms by manager Dave Jones and certainly not the Chairman.

To lack such common sense is perhaps indicative that modern footballers are becoming increasingly detached from the general public and possess an arrogance that perhaps they can say what they want and get away with it without fear of recrimination. Social networking, alongside the media, is almost as important as what happens on the pitch, and so to fragrantly disregard its power is not only naïve, but also rather dim. But, then again, who has ever heard of a footballer lacking common sense? Surely not…

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