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Are footballers utilising Twitter in the right way?

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The social networking site de rigueur is back in the news again following the events at St James Park last weekend involving a certain Joey Barton. For anybody who has been living on the moon for the past few months Barton is now one of the most prolific ‘Tweeters’ in the footballing fraternity, quoting Orwell or Kipling one minute and castigating the Newcastle hierarchy the next.

Mooted moves by certain managers to ban their players from using Twitter may seem to be draconian, but are they? Take a look at it from Mick McCarthy’s point of view, last season one of his playing staff Tweeted that Steve Sidwell was sat in the stands watching a Wolves game prior to signing for the club, said Tweet was picked up on by an agent who alerted Fulham to the impending transfer. The result being that Fulham moved in and signed the player themselves.

Its not all plain sailing for the players either, pity poor Darron Gibson who closed his account down within hours of opening it because of all the abuse he received from his own clubs fans. The number of players who have been fined by the humourless FA is an ever increasing list too. Take Ryan Babel’s posting of Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt for example, did the crime really merit the censure he received?

A blanket ban on footballers using Twitter is obviously a knee-jerk reaction, for all the high profile misdemeanours the majority of postings are pretty banal and aren’t really that different from what you or I would Tweet. What Phil Neville had for breakfast or the last film that Danny Shittu watched is now only a mouse click away, if you really want to know.

What you can’t get away from is the fact that Twitter now grants you access to your idols. In a sport where multimillionaire players are becoming increasingly distanced from their fan base suddenly interaction between the two has returned. Kevin Davis admitted on Goals on Sunday that he got a buzz when he was contacted by young fans asking for advice. On the flip side though he also conceded that he stopped posting because of the abuse he received after Bolton’s FA Cup semi-final drubbing by Stoke. Swings and roundabouts then I guess? Perhaps both sides of the spectrum not only want their cake but to eat it as well?

There clearly needs to be an element of self-regulation on the players’ part as well as the fans. Does an intelligent man like Joey Barton really need to resort to that cheap shot at Alan Shearer? It doesn’t endear him to anybody yet by the same stretch it certainly makes good newspaper copy, let’s be honest journalists now trawl Twitter for a sniff of a story. If you’re in any doubt just follow Darren Bent!

Fans aren’t blameless either, the high profile incidents involving Darron Gibson, which has already alluded to; Wayne Rooney and Danny Gabbidon only serve to underline that fact. As Kevin Davis so succinctly put it: “There’s always going to be some idiot who spoils it for everybody “. It’s difficult not to disagree with him in fairness.

The irony amongst all of this is that, arguably, one of the most intriguing and entertaining Tweeters is the Guardian’s ‘TSF’. For those not in the know ‘The Secret Footballer’, to give him his full nom de plume, is an, understandably, anonymous Premier League footballer who not only writes a weekly column for the aforementioned newspaper but also Tweets on a regular basis. Perhaps anonymity is the way forward for everybody concerned? If only it were that simple.

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