Social media in football has pretty much exploded over the last five years, with players, managers, coaching staff, club media and even owners using various social media channels to promote and interact with fans and friends. It’s a great way for people to get the chance to see what goes on in the life of a professional at their chosen club, an insight to what really goes on behind the scenes with regards to some player duties outside of training and club commitments.
I’m sure most of you know will already know where I’m heading with this one, last week our current first choice keeper Wes Foderingham posted a picture on Instagram of himself during a match at Ibrox, the picture in question was of him during a game with a flare beside his foot on the pitch. I wasn’t sure what game it was from to be honest and nor did I care. The picture was of himself with Rangers fans in the back and nothing more. I checked online a few hours later to find a few people having a moan because the picture was apparently during a defeat at home to Celtic.
Wes received criticism for posting the picture that was during a defeat to our biggest and oldest rivals, I can understand people might not agree with context of the picture but I certainly didn’t know what game it was from. The keeper responded to one particular tweet with “Future tip… I will post what I want, I’m a grown man.”
I understand his reaction, I mean it’s a picture of him playing at Ibrox and I’m guessing a vast majority of fans wouldn’t have picked up from what game it was. Social media can be a hotbed for the weird and wonderful side of fans and as a player I can see the lure of being socially active online has both good and bad points, it draws hate and abuse from everywhere, wither it be criticism after a poor performance or rival fans consistently aiming sly digs at you. I’ve openly talked about players after poor performances but personally I don’t see the advantages of tweeting them directly to vent my frustration.
You can also argue that players take pride in being able to interact with fans and share an insight to club life you wouldn’t normally have access to. So it’s a difficult cross to bear (tin hat on for that analogy) but it can backfire at times, you only have to look at the tweet Josh Windass sent about Neymar during the Champions League game last night, he got abuse from the second he hit the send button and it’s hard to defend.
It takes balls of steel not to bite to the replies that some of them receive but I guess that’s the risk you take, they’re a better person than me that’s for sure, there is no way I could ignore some of the stuff fired their way.