Sunderland’s Victor Anichebe suffered an embarrassing incident after Saturday’s last minute defeat to West Ham. The Nigerian tweeted to his account post – match a message reading:

Can you tweet something like Unbelievable support yesterday and great effort lads! Hard result to take! But we go again!

Anichebe clearly wasn’t that fussed about a direct copy and paste to Twitter, but it did show that footballers are still relying on third parties to write their tweets for them. Not only has the mistake completely cast into doubt how much of their content players actually write, but it’s also done some damage for the football. The mistake has a sour note for football fans and takes all credibility away from praising fans, making it instead somewhat hollow.

What could have been a message of appreciation for the fans has instead backfired entirely. Whilst there is nothing new with third parties, and even sponsors, helping craft social media content for their athletes to promote, this incident does show there is a risk involved.

The incident does pose an interesting question for clubs whether they’ve catered for third-party involvement when players sign official club Social Media Policy documents? With so much sponsorship now focused on social media, this doesn’t just harm club/player brand but also potential revenue generated from sponsorship activation.

Why shouldn’t players out-source their Social Media to third parties?

• Users follow the players individual account for a real interaction. If it’s clear that the player isn’t the one tweeting then why should they bother follow?
• Ensuring consistency between tweets can be difficult. The content and language used by a footballer is likely to be very different of a PR/Social Media professional
• It’s not particularly transparent and therefore carries no credibility amongst fans
• Some clubs and institutions may prohibit players providing access to third parties as part of their Social Media Policy

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“Mido – The only box you will find him in these days is a KFC box. He retired aged 30 last year.”

Mido, who has long been the target if fans for his weight, clearly must’ve been searching for himself (as the tweet hadn’t been directed to his main Twitter handle) and took great offence to the tweet by responding with the excessive reply,

“@FadedFootballers my friend the amount of money that I have made from football is good enough to fuck your mum 20 years for free”

The bizarre (and poorly constructed) insult was quickly deleted by the player but not quick enough for someone on Reddit.com to take a screenshot. Mido, who retired last season after one substitute appearance with Barnsley, is just another player to add to the list of athletes giving in to provocations from fans and responding unnecessarily.

Abuse from fans – in the stands, on the radio, in the street and increasingly online – has always been part and parcel of the footballing life. Players, despite often being on the receiving end of awful abuse, have to remain professional and as calm as possible in order to avoid bringing upon themselves negative press coverage.

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Michael Chopra tweeted,

“Fucking joke this come in training only 6 fucking players here then find out the fitness coach taken the football session #joke.”

The tweet was later on deleted by Chopra and the club announced that the tweet was in relation to the fact “Chopra was one of number of players asked to report to training as normal this morning for extra work with the fitness coach.”  Chopra has been fined the maximum amount for breaching the clubs code of conduct and given a very public warning from the staff at Blackpool FC.

The Seasiders issued the following statement on their website around midday that stated:

“The manager has requested that the fine levied against Chopra, which equates to more than £10,000, be donated to the club’s Community Trust, to assist in their work as part of Altogether Now – A Legacy for Blackpool. The club can confirm that Chopra was one of number of players asked to report to training as normal this morning for extra work with the fitness coach.

Both the manager and the chairman are aware and disappointed with the contents of his tweet, prompting this course of action.

The player, who has the right to appeal, has since apologised for the tweet and removed the contents from his account. The money will be utilised across a number of projects to improve the lives of young people in Blackpool, through the delivery of health, education and inclusion schemes.”

Whilst the action itself is to be frowned upon, Blackpool must be commended for their quick turn around on not only identifying the tweet but preparing a statement and the necessary punishment. In less than 3 hours, the Championship side managed to react and readdress the situation.

Blackpool could’ve improved their image further by perhaps suggesting the player would now have to undergo a Social Media best practice session and be refreshed about the club’s own Social Media Policy (which we can assume the club has).

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“@OfficialWoves Better look next time you six fingered, inbred, dingle bastards. YOU’VE LET US DOWN AGAIN!!!!”

Walsall Football Club however stated that the tweet appeared after their account was hacked at 22:36. In an official statement posted on their Facebook Page, the Walsall Communications Team stated:

“We would like to apologise unreservedly to Wolverhampton Wanderers and their supporters for the offensive Tweet that appeared on the club’s Official Twitter Page – @WFCOfficial – last night.

Our Official account was hacked at 22:36 last night and a derogative and frankly disgusting Tweet was published. As soon as the club’s Communications Team, who were at Molineux for the fixture, were made aware of the Tweet, it was deleted and an apology issued.

Walsall Football Club are taking this matter very, very seriously. A full investigation will be launched.

Walsall FC do not condone this type of behaviour and when the culprit is identified the club will be taking the strongest course of action.”

The event highlights just how important it is to ensure the security of all Social Media accounts are regularly maintained and checked. With so many different staff and departments increasingly wanting access to club accounts, Social Media managers need to either have a rolling password or ensure that all communications come through a compliance process to ensure that these types of embarrassing situations don’t crop up.

A single mishap or disgruntled former employee can cause havoc with a club’s reputation in an instant. Ensuring that passwords are changed every time staff leave the company and encouraging a vigilant security policy for Social Media are great and easy ways to ensure safety for club, players and brand.

Particularly with many clubs using mobile devices to manage their Social Media channels, they need to be extra careful their devices don’t fall into the wrong hands and additional security measures (such as phone PIN codes) are put in place.

It’s no wonder we’re starting to see specialised tools like Social Pundit – to help aid, monitor and advise on protecting against Social Media embarrassments.

The post Walsall FC tweets Wolves are “inbred bastards” appeared first on Digital-Football.com - Football Social Media & Digital Sports news.

The news article, swiftly deleted by the Premier League, stated,

“Jose Mourinho has returned to Stamford Bridge after agreeing to take over as Chelsea manager for the second time.”

Clearly not knowing the contractual terms, the article simply states that the “Portuguese coach is back at Stamford Bridge after signing a x-x year contract”.

This isn’t the first time this month that an online department has jumped the gun in releasing content before it should’ve been. The announcement of David Moyes as Manchester United’s new manager was leaked before the club could break the news, when the Press Office Twitter account accidentally tweeted a link to a ‘still-in-development’ Facebook Page welcoming the new manager.

Both incidents go to show the danger that Social Media can cause in a remarkably short amount of time. The speed at which both stories swept across Social Media, with screenshots of the gaffes as both tried to delete their errors, meant that there was very little both the Premier League and United could actually do. As channels like Twitter become more and more credible and readily accepted as platforms to “break the news” – the importance of ensuring content is not released prematurely has only become more important.

Football clubs and governing bodies alike have to understand the shrewd and skilled nature of fans who will do anything to try find out a little more – even if that means scouting an entire website to find any unpublished stories. Furthermore, there has to be a rigorous procedure for publish releases, especially as a mistake such as this can cause problems to potentially months of PR planning and budget going down the drain.

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The tweet and the Facebook tab were deleted incredibly quickly, perhaps less than a minute – but this wasn’t fast enough to stop Twitter going into a fury as the news continues to spread online.

The slip up just goes to show the sheer speed and power of Social Media and particularly it is notable that Social Media is becoming the primary source for breaking news over television for such events.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement caused a buzz on Twitter yesterday with over 1.75 million tweets being sent out in relation to the news, again demonstrating how close Football and Social Media are entwined. However, it also shows how important it is on Social Media to make sure information is kept private and no Social Media managers “jump the gun”.

The news was also tweeted by @FIFAcom, who deleted the tweet just as quickly.

As of yet, there has been no official confirmation (well, that hasn’t been deleted!) from the club.

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Barcelona, for example has today over 39M fans on Facebook, over than 10% more than their archrivals and the self claimed “biggest club in the world” – Real Madrid.

In the UK, rather than on the number of fans, Manchester City’s main success has been in terms of brand – though City has a respectful 4.5M fans on Facebook, they can’t yet be compared with their Manchester rivals United who currently have over 35M fans on that social network. Other clubs such as PSG or Chelsea who were bought by foreign investors and, by that, lost some of the admiration and respect of “traditional” football fans, City have been successful in globally projecting a positive image of the club and pioneering in many online engagement-generating initiatives with their fans.

The two main pay-offs of this strategy have been:

1. improving the satisfaction levels of old citizens – those supporters and members who have followed the club for whole their lives; and
2. a steady growth of the club’s fanbase: new citizens from abroad – projecting Manchester City’s brand and gaining  international market share.

In other parts of the world, however, clubs choose other marketing and communication strategies. For example, last Wednesday, Portuguese champions FC Porto released what can be called a “motivational video” for their fans, about last weekend’s “Clássico dos Clássicos”, otherwise known as the Benfica-FC Porto derby. The current leader of the Portuguese league Benfica and the holding champions FC Porto drew 2-2 and Benfica kept their 3 points advantage to FC Porto who, in turn, have one game less to play.

Following three days of mutual public accusations in the press (coaches, players and presidents of both clubs gave extensive interviews and press-conferences), the “battle” came to new media when FC Porto released on their Facebook page a 4min video titled “Fair-play is bullshit” (yes, true). The video repeatedly shows images of violent fouls of Benfica players and supposed mistakes of the referee against FC Porto. In between, you can actually see the 2 goals FC Porto scored. Professional video editing and “epic” Portuguese music back the video as a soundtrack.

Benfica’s fight back came on the next day, publishing a video in which one can listen FC Porto’s coach and president complaining about the referee on post-match press conference while simultaneously are presented images of flagrant fouls of FC Porto players and supposed mistakes of the referee against Benfica. The ironic style adopted made it an instantaneous success in a country and soon went viral in Portugal.

Combined, the two videos had over 4000 shares on Facebook less than 12 hours after Benfica posted their reply. Since being uploaded the videos have quickly surpassed the 150,000 views mark in a short timeframe. As a consequence, the engagement rates of both club’s post were higher than their average.

But should success in football clubs social media be measured only in terms of figures and engagement rates? How should social media strategies success be evaluated for football clubs?

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The current SPL leading goal scorer tweeted to user @Zak_Iqbal:

“f*** off back to your own country ya clown”

Wolves were quick to comment on the issue and the player has since apologised. Wolves stated:

“Wolves are aware of an alleged racist comment made on Twitter last night by Leigh Griffiths. The club condemns such comments in the strongest possible terms and are extremely angry and disappointed…The player is currently on loan at Hibernian FC and is likely to remain there for the rest of the season.

He is, therefore, subject to the disciplinary procedures of Hibernian FC and those of the Scottish Football Association. However, Wolves are in dialogue with Hibernian and are making their feelings known on the matter.”

Hibernian were also quick to criticise the player and condemned all acts of racism. Scottish police have always made a statement stating they are aware of the tweet.

This is yet another example of players continuing to stir up controversy and not understand the effects their Social Media comments have online. The striker who used the Twitter handle @LeighG28 has now protected his tweets to try hide past comments. With a following of 12,000 Twitter users, the tweet soon went viral and ended up trending across the UK. The tweet has since been deleted.

Whilst it is disappointing that players are still causing controversy, it is good to see football clubs like Wolves and Hibs act quickly to monitor, condemn and punish such acts. Reaction speed to a PR crisis is one of the most crucial elements of crisis managements and both clubs should be applauded with how they have dealt with the situation. However, the question still remains why the player posted what had and whether players need to undergo more extensive and aggressive Social Media training.

In fact, in 2011 we reported on the fact that Wolves had brought in a media law firm to help advise and train players in using Social Media properly. However, whether the club has continued this on a regular basis is unknown – Social Media training needs to be frequent and regular in order to ensure that new signings and promoted youth players are also kept in the loop.

We’ve long been an advocate that simply handing players  a list of rules will not stop instances like this – instead clubs must educate players about why these rules are important, what constitutes very clearly right and wrong – and also show them examples of a single tweet can tarnish a reputation in less than an hour. Equally, clubs must educate players around how good Social Media practice can be hugely beneficial for players in their life after football.

A punishment from either the SFA or the FA, or perhaps the court of law now awaits Leigh Griffiths.

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Lincoln, rather than contacting Newport via phone, email or in person – decided to use Twitter to communicate with the club and let them know that they should “get the paperwork signed and sent to us so the move can be completed” in a tweet from their official club account.

Whilst many football fans have commented that the exchange was deeply unprofessional by Lincoln to discuss the details of the transfer so publicly, it certainly is a sign of how times have changed.

Recently, we reported that football clubs around the world have a staggering 46 million followers combined across 1,551 clubs. This latest interaction just goes to show how Social Media is revolutionising the game and making it more transparent for fans. As we start the transfer window – it is now common practice for transfer tips, confirmations and opinions to be spread across club officials, journalists and players on Twitter. Whether this latest milestone is a positive for the clubs, it certainly does provide fans with an insight into some of the daily routines and issues many clubs at all levels face.

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Cole tweeted out the offensive tweet at Friday lunchtime to his 382,000 Twitter followers and within it’s first hour attracted over 17,000 retweets – including many messages of disgust from former players and journalists.

UPDATE: Cole has since deleted the tweet but even though it was deleted just after 1 hour, it hasn’t stopped the story reaching major media.

Less than 3 months ago we reported a leaked document from The FA outlining the new Social Media guidelines and rules that would be enforced regarding bad behavior on Social Media.

The official document (which presumably Ashley Cole never read), states:

“Any comments which are improper, bring the game into disrepute or are threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting may lead to disciplinary action”

And just in case Cole thinks an apology on Twitter or deleting his tweet will help his chances at avoiding punishment, the rule list states:

“Deleting or apologizing publicly for an improper posting  whilst advisable, will not prevent disciplinary action being taken”

Whilst most football players have been better behaved in the past 12 months, this is still a real problem and our advice that clubs should properly educate players about the consequences of bad social media – rather than just giving them rules – is still very relevant. Perhaps Ashley Cole will take a note out of Joey Barton’s book – who famously used Promoted Tweets as a way of apologizing to the wider audience for his tweets in a desperate attempt to claw back some PR credibility?

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