One of the benefits of Twitter – which is only five years old, yet it has over 200 million users – is that you can share your opinion with hundreds, even thousands, of followers, in as short a time as it takes to bash out 140 characters. With the multitude of Apps available for various mobile phones, updates can be made whenever the notion occurs. Unfortunately, the ease of making a tweet can mean that little thought is made before tweeting, and for todays footballers, this can provide some controversial tweets.
At the weekend, Vladimir Weiss, whom i assume was partaking in a shandy or two, decided that to update his followers with the following message
“All celtic fans! I hateeeeee youuuuuuuuuu! Glasgow rangers champiooooooons ole ole oleeeee ooooooooo”
After spending the season on loan at Rangers, it is clear that he grew an affection for the club and simply, perhaps naively, wanted to endear himself to the Gers fans. The tweet did have the desired effect, but he also enraged many Celtic fans at the same time. I am not judging whether the tweet was a good idea, but the fact that he swiftly deleted it from his profile suggests that he regretted doing it.
Weiss was not the first high profile football to regret making an update on Twitter, with Liverpool’s Ryan Babel finding himself in hot water in January of this year, after his side were beaten 1-0 by Manchester United. United were awarded a controversial penalty in the first minute, which Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, called a “joke”. Babel was so incensed by the referee, Howard Webb, who also sent of Steven Gerrard, that he felt the need to vent his frustration to his followers, with the following tweet, which included the image at the top of this article, of Webb in a Man Utd shirt.
“And they call him one of the best referees? That’s a joke. SMH[Shaking My Head]”
The F.A. took umbridge to his tweet and fined him £10,000 for improper conduct.
In Scotland, a number of players deemed it acceptable to comment on Neil Lennon’s unfortunate situation, where he had been subjected to a number of threats, including being sent bullets and a bomb through the post. I would have thought (naive I know) that there would have been universal condemnation of the act, but sadly these tweets suggested otherwise.
Max McKee, an Under-19 player with Clyde FC, said
“Somebody needs to hurry up and shoot Neil Lennon #JustSaying.”
Kieran Bowell, Under-17 captain of Berwick Rangers tweeted
“Wish that parcel bomb f*****g killed neil lennon, the little c**t.”
Their respective clubs were rightly disgusted by such comments and decided to sack both of them. A promising career in football, which could now be over, and all because they didnt think before updating their Twitter account.
Although I know the perils of Twitter, I am still on Twitter myself (@sfootballforums). I also have to admit to having tweeted on my phone while in the pub, although my comments have never caused as much controversy as the ones above, simply because I think before tweeting.
Football News 24/7