Date: 6th January 2011 at 1:00pm
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Prior to the summer the club had a strict anti social networking policy.

Yet during his injury enforced absence from the World Cup, Rio Ferdinand picked up his blackberry and decided to join us mere mortals in the world of Twitter. Of course people were sceptical but we now know 100% that it is indeed him and his presence is greatly appreciated, I mean who else would have taught us about #Silks?

A whole host of other United players, first team and academy, have also jumped on Twitter but today we can see why the club may not have been so keen to see their fingers and thumbs going mad on their keyboards, Blackberries and iPhones!

After being booed off by his fans in a 2-1 defeat against Hereford, Aldershot player Marvin Morgan was fined a fortnight’s wages and transfer listed after telling fans and followers:

“Like to thank the fans who booed me off the pitch. Where’s that going to get you! I hope you all die.”

Aldershot were quick to react releasing a statement saying:

“The player accepted that his conduct was totally misguided and inappropriate and he accepts that his actions were incorrect and ill disciplined.

“Accepting that his actions had been foolish he explained that they had been made in the heat of the moment and apologised for the distress he had caused.

“The football club are satisfied that the player meant no malice with his comments. However they were completely irresponsible and contrary to the values of Aldershot Town Football Club.

“The player has also undermined the good work that he and his colleagues have done servicing the local community.”

Morgan isn’t the only person to fall foul f his club because of something he has tweeted as Darren Bent was famously chided for an outburst as was Liverpool’s Ryan Babel.

Fortunately the worst you’re likely to told be Rio if he disagrees with something you’ve said is that you are an ‘egg’ and most of his tweets center around on field matters, music, Robbie Savage and food but it goes to show that maybe the club was onto something when it sought to keep players off these sites!

This looks decent:

 

9 responses to “Could Rio suffer the backlash from this Twit?”

  1. Mike says:

    I wish Rio Ferdinand would close his twitter account and just concentrate on playing football until he retires, then he can go off into the sunset and take his pointless competitions and self-promotion with him.

    His tweets are cringe-worthy and I find him an embarrassment to Manchester United Football Club.

  2. Yashi says:

    Storm in a teacup for me. Rio is much more media-savvy than most footballers. He’s not going to come on Twitter someday, after a bad performance, and abuse all fans. Also, I don’t know any other Utd players on Twitter…

    I also don’t see why this would interfere with his football. He doesn’t text on the pitch, does he? He doesn’t text during training. Should we stop him from watching TV in case that shatters his focus? I find it great that football players are on Twitter, because although they won’t reply to everyone, they are much closer to us rather than living in a cocoon, out of the reach of fans.

    Of course, if they mess up, they only have themselves to blame. Do we really want to take away their right to engage with fans in their spare time just in case they mess up? Rio’s tweets might not always be pearls of wisdom, but I just enjoy the fact that he is out there interacting and sharing with fans when he could be in his mansion behind closed doors, completely out of touch with the real world and real fans.

  3. Doron says:

    Think Rio on Twitter has done him no harm. Cringeworthy as some of his tweets are I think he actually gives footballers a good name a lot of the time and it’s nice to see that they are just normal people a lot of the time.

    Clearly Rio understands the media and PR well and he’s matured a lot since his youthful days of misdemeanour’s.

    Jose Enrique is another example of someone who got it wrong – he announced he was injured and wouldn’t play against Spurs a few days before that game. Newcastle were angry as no one knew he was injured and they wanted to spring his exclusion on Spurs when the teamsheets were released as a surprise. As a result Newcastle have brought in a Twitter code of conduct.

    On the flip side, I find most of the Arsenal players insufferable. Their arrogance is pathetic. A lot of their youth players have it and whilst I actually think Benik Afobe has his head screwed on, he had a massive go the other week as he was on the bench (he’s on loan at Huddersfield). I get the impression a lot of the Arsenal players are just signing up now so they can publicly celebrate when they win the Carling Cup as if it were the league title!

    • Chudi Onwuazor says:

      I like Benik, quite friendly with his sister.

      Agree totally Doron, just wondering whether Rio and other players may be told to hold back slow down with their tweets as a result.

      Rio is too old to get caught up in such a storm but I have seen people complain about child abuse when he jokingly tweeted about 2 footed slide tackling his kids!

      Whilst Morgan telling his followers and fans I hope they die was beyond foolish it goes to show that people will pick up on anything in order to talk about and pick at players.

  4. Sammy says:

    I actually like the way rio, in his tweets, quickly knocks back any bullshit stories journalists create and I enjoy the way they despise this. I.e. any false dropped/ injury rumours.

  5. jonathan says:

    By and large, Twitter is useless. Maybe there is some point with urgent updates, but it’s generally pointless musings.
    He may be responsible when he uses it, but then it opens the door for anyone else in the club to use it which has little benefit to the club IMO.

  6. pete says:

    He has nothing wrong. In fact I thought it was great to see a photo like this. Both Rio and Anderson seem like good down to Earth people who enjoy their football and their lives.

    Jonathon – Twitter is not useless. It’s good enough for Bill Gates, not having to use Google to find things, getting an inside view and zoning out from the more serious parts of life. Dalai Lama, Deeprak Chopra and other leaders all use it. Stephen Fry’s tweets are always good. Your comments are poorly researched and not thought through.

    Mike – his tweets show his human side. You should be more embarrassed by your attitude than Rio. I bet he is funnier and plays a much better game than yoy do. Get off his back. Would much rather read his comments than some journo’s misquote of what he said.

    Rio rocks. He tweeted that the best thing he has every done is buy his parents a house. For me that shows a good person with a great heart. Let him be and if it makes him happy to tweet then he will be happier, play better football and we can knock Liverpool off their perch.

    • jonathan says:

      Let me guess, I’m uninformed and haven’t thought through my point because I don’t agree with you?

      I’m aware everyone and their dog uses Twitter which includes friends of mine and people I esteem. However, I still have seen very few examples of useful “tweets” and I feel there numerous other forms of media which provide better insight and context.

      Regardless, my point was not that his particular use is detrimental, only that allowing it for all players at the club potentially opens doors that don’t need to be opened. Pro sports players tweets are already a major source for news stories and often it is gossip related which does not benefit the team.

      It’s just my opinion though and you’re welcome to enjoy Twitter all you like.

  7. rthrth says:

    fergie and mike pelan tweet too – -“