Like it or nor, we live in an age of instantaneous 24/7 communication, and the use of social networking sites is keenly embraced by millions of people the length and breadth of the country.
Aficionados of such sites will be very familiar with the set-up, where, at the click of a button, we can share an entire multitude of opinions depicting life’s rich tapestry. Be warned however – those endeavouring to discover life-affirming, soul-uplifting revelations may be sorely disappointed.
For much of the time, for instance, twitter entries resemble a case of the bland leading the bland. Sadly, some of our better known football stars are no exception to this, as we are all too frequently invited to ‘like’ what can only be described as their often tedious musings. You can’t help but come to the conclusion that certain players ought to let their feet do more of the talking.
As with the majority of the population, tweets from footballers are usually harmless. Of course they can be faintly amusing, enjoyably controversial, and – perish the thought - vaguely interesting. However, they can also all too regularly flirt with the decidedly offensive.
But let’s go back to bland for a moment. Celtic’s Joe Ledley, for instance, gave us this less than enlightening insight into his club’s pre-season camp in Germany:
‘Nice game of golf earlier now looking forward to playing table tennis later. Big tournament going on.’ Enthralling, Joe. Not exactly edge of the seat stuff, and fans may well dwell on those words the next time a professional footballer complains about the rigours of pre-season training.
Former England striker Michael Owen then tried his luck, applying the old maxim that there are no prizes to be gained for modesty: ‘I know I can still bang them in at the top level. I proved that nearly every time I played for Man Utd. At 32, still got a few years in me.’
One hesitates to be pedantic, but what isn’t recorded here is that, in 3 years with the Old Trafford club, Owen played a grand total of 31 league games. He scored 5 goals. In all competitions; the tallies only slightly improve to 52 games and 17 goals.
It’s doubtful whether tweets such as those could do any harm whatsoever. They could certainly not be described as even remotely offensive – dull and plain inaccurate are hardly the most heinous of crimes.
However, the trouble with this form of communication is that it often drifts towards the highly personal, and, in some cases, downright abusive. Serial tweeter Joey Barton, a man who is no stranger to controversy, enjoyed a recent on-line spat with Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker, following criticism of the QPR midfielder in light of his red card on the final day of last season.
Of Shearer: ‘Shearers still on my case. I know I f***** up Alan, thanks for stating the obvious.’ And – having plainly ignored the fact that Shearer has a tendency towards reminding us what’s right in front of our noses on Match of the Day anyhow – Barton continued with his highly personal rant. ‘I honestly despise him.’
Gary Lineker ‘took to his twitter account’ (as they say about these things) to defend his MOTD colleague, only to find himself slapped down with the suggestion he ‘go back under your stone you odious little toad.’
Irrespective of the rights and wrongs over the comments or incidents that led to such a gutter-level adoption of language, the obvious concern is that such exchanges are becoming increasingly prevalent. And professional footballers, with no shortage of time on their hands (not to mention a common penchant in some quarters for making the headlines) duly decide to vent their spleen for the benefit of all and sundry.
Now Rio Ferdinand, himself an apparent devotee of twitter, has caused a stir by making a comment about a tweet regarding Ashley Cole, following the Chelsea defender’s recent court appearance in support of club-mate John Terry.
That case, as we know all too well, was mired in racism allegations surrounding Terry and Rio Ferdinand’s brother, Anton. We won’t rehearse the issues here, but suffice to say that, given the sensitivities of the case in question, the Man United defender might have been well served by avoiding any comment whatsoever on the matter. (No matter however innocently intended).
And there’s the rub. Twitter is here to stay, despite football currently having enough baggage to contend with regarding it's image. Ideally those high-profile exponents might want to consider engaging brain before addressing their keyboards in future. Sadly, experience to date would suggest this is a rather forlorn hope.