Good morning.
Before the the aftermath the math – and a few moments of your invaluable time in relation to Kyle Walker. Today’s sermon is entitled, ‘Abuse, When Is Good Time For You And Will There Be Light Refreshments?’
Let me kick off by saying I didn’t send Kyle a nasty Tweet yesterday. Or at any other time. To the best of my knowledge I’ve only had a pop at two footballers on Twitter. I definitely expressed a belief to ***** that he was a wage thief. That prompted about a dozen or so 15 year olds to tell me I was a very, very mean type. A rotter. The other was aimed at Rio Ferdinand who was re-Tweeted by someone else and I think I said, ‘Get off my TL you Jar Jar Binks looky-likey.’
The fallacy is of course that we should all be nice and tolerant to each other. Apologies if I’m the first person to shatter your illusion but there isn’t a place in the world where that actually happens. So if you think you can get a billion strangers together online and achieve that utopia, good luck.
‘Walker was abused.’ He must have been. It says so in this morning’s papers. I can’t find any examples but one can imagine the type of thing he was sent. ‘You’re ___’ and variations upon that theme. I really expensive barrister would have trouble defending him from such allegations. I’ve not been alone in gently trying to break to people for months he’s not very good at playing football.
Now, ‘You’re a black ___’ isn’t on. You see that is your common or garden racism. It’s not up for debate. Mindless, not nice. Against the law.
So what level of ‘abuse’ is acceptable? Well, that’s down to the individual I guess. My argument is that it isn’t unreasonable that people can express an opinion. And therefore it doesn’t have to be pleasant. In the instance of footballers we invest emotionally and financially and when we are disappointed it’s not unreasonable to express that. Not unreasonable at all*.
*Now, at a live game it is insane to do this. Nobody was ever motivated by booing to perform better. A moot point with a number of girlfriends over the years.
So after the game, it’s open season? Well, pretty much as long as you aren’t shouting through the poor bloke’s letterbox or sending him excrement on a daily basis in the post. So no racism and no poo poo.
Right. The final whistle goes and the donkeys that have ruined your afternoon are leaving the field. ‘You’re ___’ is about what they deserve. You don’t gush thank yous and say a long goodbye in a restaurant where you’ve been served inedible muck. Well unless you’re English. Even if you don’t send a stiff letter to the owner it’s quite normal you at least glare a bit.
So what about Tweeting your displeasure?
Well as it’s a written thing let’s think of it as a letter. Who knows Kyle Walker’s address? Me neither. I guess you could send him something via the club (remembering of course the no poo poo ruling). But it’s not very immediate. By the time you’ve found something to write on, a pen that works and tried to work out who actually sells stamps these days the moment will have passed.
That’s why increasingly you get in places like pizza chains little cards with your bill. To score your experience. Because otherwise the opportunities for the pizza company to victimize their staff would be quite limited. It’s all about the immediacy. ‘Let us know how you feel!’
So players set up Twitter accounts. Most footballers are a bit thin skinned. They are actively encouraging customers thoughts to reach them. This is their ‘little card with the bill. ‘Hey guess what? Not everyone will always enjoy their meal!
Now I don’t know what the ratio of good to bad comments people receive on Twitter but the block function is there for a reason. It’s for people who want to take part – and by default take their chances – yet still exercise some degree of control.There is another option. Don’t have an account.
Self control is a two way street.
Kyle Walker closed his Twitter account that he opened because people were saying nasty things to him. Will any of those nasty Tweets encouraged him to improve as a footballer? It’s difficult to believe they will.
Is it sad that people felt the need to tell him how furious they were? Of course, but not shocking. You leave a card with your bill, it’s beyond naive to think everyone will score you a ten.
P.S i hated the idea of avb and said so . Now i like and was totally wrong
I too was against appointing AVB and have drawn my neck in, although I would say this, he is poor at substituting players. Yesterdat I couldn’t understand him taking off Tom Hudd as he was the best player on the field. He had Michael Dawson on the bench and , with the mistakes, Gallas was making, should have brought him on. Townsend and Falque have skill and he needs to look at using them in real games, not just the Milk Cup. He’s here and we have to back him, but I was all for Moyes.
Just a note on Kyle Walker. I thought he was good last season. Clearly he isn’t playing well at the moment, but does anyone think getting on his case will boost his confidence and therefore help our beloved Spurs? Surely not. Now you could attack Twitter as a medium and question his logic or common sense for being on there in the first place but slagging a player off on his own account is about as constructive as booing at half time or knocking on his door and telling him he’s useless. I’m not saying that players should be beyond reproach or that fans shouldn’t be critical of individuals, the team or the manager. I just think there’s a time and a place. This blog and others for example. Kyle could conceivably read what’s written here, but for me, that’s his problem for reading it. I know the same could be said for Twitter and even people as mentally challenged as footballers should know what they’re getting into with it, but it’s the personal nature of the criticism that could be damaging. As he says he is still a young player and learning, even if he is overpaid and pampered.
Even though he hasn’t been great this year and needs benching, I have never seen him give less than 100% in terms of effort – unlike some who have worn the lillywhite over the years. I also think that Redknapp ran him and Bale into the ground last season and as others have said, he could do with a spell on the sidelines. To me he looks tired and leggy already. Bale started the season in a similar way but has begun to find his form again over the last few games. Being singled out for criticism in this way could have one of two effects on him: he can either lose all confidence and go the way of many an England keeper, or develop a “F**k you” attitude and prove his doubters wrong. Let’s hope it’s the latter.
Also agree with one of the posts above; if his long range drive had snuck in just before, this would be a non issue.
I’m so glad the internet didn’t exist when I was a kid, and feel for those who end up at the mercy of it, or for that matter, any media outlet. Being older helps, makes you thicker-skinned, as it helps you, Harry, deal with abuse, by banning people :whistle: rather than closing your site. Thing is you can’t keep a low profile in the spot-light. Do I sympathize with these badge-kissing, money-grabbing, porche-driving kids? Not really. Although Walker hasn’t got me to the point of wanting to personally abuse him, Dempsey has, lol, so would be hypocritical to knock others for it. Social media networking is a powerful, dangerous tool that I stay well away from.
I’ve probably banned on average one person per year.
Mostly though I tend to have my people locate them, we then simply exhume a few of the offender’s dead relatives and we have what the boys now call, a ‘Teddy Bears Sick Pic.’
Once the chaps have re-wallpapered someone’s house …the nasty comments tend to dry up.
Ur so Lunden. Remember, prevention is better than cure.
When Kyle Walker was young,who told him he could be a right back?
Seems to be the brilliant moron who offered that create assessment really messed him and us up.
That made him into a doctor instead of a carpenter when he would have been very happy being a carpenter.
Dont look the the veneer of the position in the program.He is a right winger.
Its a bit like the Bourne Identity and we are Treadstone United
:hae: :blink: :shocked2:
He can’t cross.
who Jason Bourne.
He cant remember where the goal is thats all.Oh yes and he is in Berlin.
.
I have to disagree; Walker is a good player who needs a bit more time to adjust to the new tactics and is going through a wobbly patch much like A&E did for a bit before he settled down and many of us became impressed with his level of improvement. A&E isn’t the best left back in the world but right now we miss him. Given that Naughton has performed well when asked, the fact that he hasn’t replaced Walker so far suggests that our manager feels that Kyle W is working through something rather than suddenly out of his depth. Bale, if you remember, didn’t always set our world alight but patience and belief in him by our then manager eventually paid off. Walker’s not rubbish, just not as quick to learn as we’d like perhaps.
Well that’s wot I finks anyway.
Naughton is injured I believe.
Walker is a crap defender and a good attacker.
No Brain.But follow the yellow brick road.
Walker has great potential but maybe receiving the young player of the year award last year has gone to his head a bit. He needs to work hard on his defensive play because at times he is clearly the weakest link but on Saturday at 3-2 he nearly scored the equaliser for us and then he would have been a hero. Football is too fickle these days and people forget quickly.