Football Fans – The Twitter Generation

Twitter or Facebook? Or Both? Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the social media revolution is here and football fans across the world have now grasped the art of ‘Tweeting’ or ‘Facebooking’ their feelings to anyone and everyone.

I started using Facebook a couple of years ago for several reasons; I wanted to catch up with friends and I also saw the potential of spreading the word about my books. With Twitter, I (reluctantly) started using it about 6 months ago and soon found it was a totally different ‘beast’ to Facebook.
Firstly, I am appalled at the bad language and abuse used on Twitter. I must admit I have never met most people I ‘follow’ but I can’t believe the abuse and swearing that goes on, especially after bad Villa results. Not only that, people who voice their opinions onto the masses can easily hide behind their comments without any comeback; you simply ‘block’ and ‘unfollow’. I have been reading some appalling comments about our CEO Paul Faulkner, a great guy who wants the best for the club; Mr Lerner, a man who has pumped in millions and is a good man, a Villa man and of course the person who bears the brunt of the abuse, Alex McLeish. If I was Alex reading the rubbish some people write about him I would be horrified. This guy has come to our club to do a job, regardless of where he came from and he has been vilified from Day 1. No one should be subject to stuff like that!!

I have been a Villa fan all my life (46 years) and I have seen Villa in the Third Division playing the likes of Bournemouth, Plymouth and Tranmere and on the flip side I have seen the ‘glory days’ of 1981 and 1982. Villa fans back then in the 60s and 70s supported their team through thick or thin, even to the extent that a crowd of 48,110 watched Villa play Bournemouth in February 1972. Today’s ‘fickle’ fans are led by the (national) media frenzy and more to the point, the social networks like Twitter and Facebook and dare I say, by some fanzine websites are guilty of publishing propaganda that fans take as ‘gospel.’

What appears on Twitter it seems to some small minded people is ‘gospel’. Take the Darren Bent fiasco a few weeks ago. The guy gets caught by a ‘snapper’ shopping (rightly or wrongly) in Cambridge during or just after a big game. A few minutes later the picture was on Twitter and visible all over the world. We all know what happened then – all hell broke out and all sorts of accusations were made about Darren Bent. The guy was injured and had physio in the morning and was told by the medics to go home and rest. Maybe he shouldn’t have been shopping but what happened on that evening and the following day was pure madness. OK, Darren uses Twitter just like many of the first team players do (and maybe they should be told by their clubs not to use it?), but that person who snapped Darren Bent in Cambridge didn’t know the facts before he published the photo and started making accusations. The facts were later published and Darren (and the club) were made to look foolish by having to apologise on Sky for going shopping.

Unfortunately, that won’t be the last time something like that happens. In fact I seem to remember Alex McLeish was photographed smiling as he walked down towards the tunnel after another home defeat a few weeks ago and that picture appeared on Twitter and the comments published were along the lines of, “why are you smiling…?” What followed was the usual torrents of abuse by the ‘McLeish-Out’ bunch on Twitter and Facebook.

To say the modern football fan is fickle is an understatement and Twitter is partly to blame for this culture. Team selections are criticised en-mass nowadays, minutes after they are published. Performances even more so. After our tremendous victory over Chelsea on New Year’s Eve, the ‘anti-McLeish’ protesters were on the whole quiet as they obviously couldn’t fault the result and the attacking football they have been craving to watch. However, some people are never satisfied and still wouldn’t be satisfied even if Alex led Villa to European glory again.  For God sake get over the fact he was Blues manager!! All the protesting doesn’t help the team and has a negative effect, not only on the team but the club as a whole (a la Blackburn Rovers). Give the guy some time to get things right; I’m sure he is doing the right things in training. Sure Alex is accountable, but the players need to take some of the blame as they are responsible for their own performances. What appears on Twitter is pure and simply personal abuse of decent people who are trying to do their jobs. The result against Swansea two days later saw the reverse and back to the ‘McLeish Out’ protests and the negativity which seems to be surrounding some sections of the fan-base.

Things aren’t going too well for the team at the moment but I think some people on Twitter need to take a look at themselves and think before they publish their Tweets. Do they know that all this abuse probably get read by the players; certainly Darren Bent read some of them. Alex McLeish may or may not be the best or most popular manager Villa have ever had but he is our manager so get behind the team and the club is what I say, whoever the manager is and whoever is picked to play. Everyone gets frustrated when we lose but we all love the club and always will. “Villa ‘till I die…..”

Written by Simon Goodyear

You can find Avillafan.com on both Twitter and Facebook.