St Mirren & Social Media

[ErsatzThistle]

Saw this in the Herald, think a lot of footballers would be better off if they stayed off Twitter. 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/14435764.St_Mirren_considers_social_media_ban_for_players_after__unacceptable__Old_Firm_tweets/?ref=mr&lp=1

Quote

 

TONY FITZPATRICK, the St Mirren chief executive, has openly criticised two of his players for comments made on social media regarding Sunday’s Old Firm match, claiming the club may look at introducing a Twitter ban on its playing staff as a result.

Scott Agnew and Stuart Carswell both took to the online platform at the weekend to show their support for Ladbrokes Championship side Rangers – who play in the same league as St Mirren and go to Paisley in two weeks – before and after the penalty shootout win over Celtic in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final.

Former Motherwell midfielder Carswell posted a short message on the site just a few a hours after he came off the bench in St Mirren’s 3-1 Renfrewshire derby win over Morton to say: “Good result today buzzing to see ma bro @naismith_jason back!! Now bring on the big one tmorw!!!”

Just moments after the win for Rangers on Sunday, St Mirren team-mate Agnew took to Twitter as well to post: “Rangers better all over the park with players missing! Worrying for Celtic! Enjoy your Sunday troops!”

The tweets from both players were also accompanied by a small picture of a Union Jack flag, with angry responses from St Mirren fans leading the pair to eventually deleting both posts.

Herald Sport has learned that St Mirren do have a social media policy that has been in place since Brian Caldwell, the previous CEO, was in charge. And Fitzpatrick, who took over in February, has describe the comments from both players as ‘unacceptable’, ‘disappointing’ and ‘irresponsible’ as he revealed the club are now investigating the matter further.

“We are looking into it,” he said. “We have a policy where we speak to the players at the beginning of the season. I know before I came in Brian Caldwell and people like that would have set that out.

“You are also looking for players to have a responsibility for themselves. We can all put rules in place but you’d like to think footballers would take responsibility.

“It’s unacceptable. Whether it is Celtic or Rangers or whatever, you are playing for whatever team you are playing for. If you play for St Mirren, for me, it’s unacceptable.

“I know players support other teams but they should be responsible.”

It was reported last year that Les Ferdinand, the Queens Park Rangers director of football, was going to ban players from using Twitter after a series of online spats. It is a road Fitzpatrick admits the Championship club could go down.

“I think if people are going to be irresponsible the of course,” he said.

“Just being into the job, I know there are policies in place, we have got to gather the players in again.

“It’s just so disappointing. It’s unacceptable when players are playing for your football club and voicing things like that. It’s a private thing if they want to celebrate.”

The timing of the messages appears to be one factor that has caused issue among the St Mirren support given their own derby had just taken place before the well-publicised meeting between Rangers and Celtic little under 24 hours later.

“It just saddens me,” said Fitzpatrick. “It was a fantastic result for us on Saturday against Morton and if they are going to put things out it would be nice to do it in a good way about St Mirren and the supporters.

“Alex [Rae, the St Mirren manager] said it but our supporters were like an extra man for us on Saturday. It was like the old stadium again.

“If these lads are going to tweet they should be thanking our supporters and not worrying as much about Rangers or Celtic.

“It’s distasteful when we have just won the game like we did on Saturday. I know people have their favourite clubs but I don’t think players who are playing for other clubs should be going out and saying things like that. It should be a private matter.”

Carswell and Agnew were not the only two players to voice their opinions on Sunday’s Old Firm match. Dundee United midfielder Paul Paton tweeted “Rangers are back!! No roars today” before later apologising, while Partick Thistle striker Steven Lawless appealed for a ticket in the Rangers section last week before posting on Sunday “Nearly Time #ComeOnThePeople” and “I need one of they Magic Hats!”.

Meanwhile, more than 130 fans signed up to the St Mirren Independent Supporters Association (SMISA) within 48 hours of the scheme’s launch in a bid that was exclusively revealed by Herald Sport last month.

SMISA has had a joint offer with ex-Saints director Gordon Scott for the majority shareholding in the club accepted in principle by the selling consortium. Construction boss and lifelong Saints fan Gordon will pay the bulk of the money and SMISA plans to borrow the rest, with fans asked to pay back the loan via a fan subscription scheme similar to the Foundation of Hearts.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2016 by ErsatzThistle

[Rossy]

Football teams the world over are full of idiotic, thick-as-shit laddies.

We tend to suffer more in Scotland because of the goldfish bowl nature of our sport. And because our footballers are generally more thick than those in other countries.

St Mirren fans are not the first and won't be the last to see their players act like twats.

 

Edited April 19, 2016 by Rossy

[Barney Rubble]

It's not Steven Lawless's first transgression of this nature either.

As Rossy alludes to, brain cells tend to be in short supply in the average Scottish footballer. In particular they seem to be unable to get their heads round the fact that posting on social media means that by defintion they cannot be anonymous. Throw in an ugly sisters' game and they just cannot help showing themselves up instead of keeping their true allegiances to themsleves.

[aaid]

I tend to view a lot of this mock outrage in the same way as fans who throw all sorts of bile and offensive abuse at a player for 90 minutes then complain bitterly when he flicks the vickies at them going off the pitch.

For as long as I have been alive and probably long before then, whenever a lower league team draws either Rangers of Celtic the papers are full of "boyhood Rangers/Celtic fan looks to put one over his heroes/rivals".  

Are players not allowed to have supported a team when they were young and are they not allowed to comment on football?

It would obviously be a different matter if a player was bigging up the team he supports *when* they are playing against the team he plays for.  Similarly if the comments are in any way offensive or abusive then he should be treated accordingly.  Being pictured wearing any kind of replica kit is obviously a no-no.   I remember going into the 1986 Skol Cup final and standing behind Iain Ferguson - then a player for Dundee Utd- who was wearing a Rangers scarf, he was also wearing an orange jumper so maybe that was for his contracted club.  Imagine the meltdown there would be if that happened now  

None of these comments to me look anyway out if the ordinary and if they were made by anyone other than a footballer no-one would look twice at them.

i agree that footballers would be better advised not to make these sort if comments on Twitter but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be able to if everyone showed a bit more maturity. 

[Rossy]

21 minutes ago, aaid said:

I tend to view a lot of this mock outrage in the same way as fans who throw all sorts of bile and offensive abuse at a player for 90 minutes then complain bitterly when he flicks the vickies at them going off the pitch.

For as long as I have been alive and probably long before then, whenever a lower league team draws either Rangers of Celtic the papers are full of "boyhood Rangers/Celtic fan looks to put one over his heroes/rivals".  

Are players not allowed to have supported a team when they were young and are they not allowed to comment on football?

It would obviously be a different matter if a player was bigging up the team he supports *when* they are playing against the team he plays for.  Similarly if the comments are in any way offensive or abusive then he should be treated accordingly.  Being pictured wearing any kind of replica kit is obviously a no-no.   I remember going into the 1986 Skol Cup final and standing behind Iain Ferguson - then a player for Dundee Utd- who was wearing a Rangers scarf, he was also wearing an orange jumper so maybe that was for his contracted club.  Imagine the meltdown there would be if that happened now  

None of these comments to me look anyway out if the ordinary and if they were made by anyone other than a footballer no-one would look twice at them.

i agree that footballers would be better advised not to make these sort if comments on Twitter but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be able to if everyone showed a bit more maturity. 

You're a Rangers fan are you not ? Would you just merrily accept one of your players openly stating his support for Celtic ?

This isn't gonna change the lives of St Mirren fans, but ultimately they pay the wages of these idiots and it's disrespectful for footballers to insult the fans of a club by openly stating their support for a rival.

I thought that would have been obvious.

[aaid]

7 minutes ago, Rossy said:

You're a Rangers fan are you not ? Would you just merrily accept one of your players openly stating his support for Celtic ?

Personally it would depend entirely on the circumstances, that said I'm not naive enough to understand that I would be in a minority.   

So in this context, Rangers against Celtic in the Scottish Cup, a competition that St Mirren are no longer in, can you really describe them as a rival?   I agree it would be totally disrespectful if the player concerned had tweeted something similar about Rangers winning the Championship, a competition they are in.  

Why are Dundee Utd fans getting exercised about Paul Paton then?  In what way are Rangers a rival if Dundee Utd?  They haven't been for four years now and won't be for a few more.  Even Lukasz Zaluska knows that "he is Rangers". 

[RenfrewBlue]

What a non story. Stupid footballer tweets silly thing and football fans are outraged. 

Why any footballer would express a preference for a club in the same country other than their own Is beyond me.

The fans have a right to expect some common sense and a bit of respect from their players but not for them to support the club they play for.

[adamntg]

1 hour ago, aaid said:

Personally it would depend entirely on the circumstances, that said I'm not naive enough to understand that I would be in a minority.   

So in this context, Rangers against Celtic in the Scottish Cup, a competition that St Mirren are no longer in, can you really describe them as a rival?   I agree it would be totally disrespectful if the player concerned had tweeted something similar about Rangers winning the Championship, a competition they are in.  

Why are Dundee Utd fans getting exercised about Paul Paton then?  In what way are Rangers a rival if Dundee Utd?  They haven't been for four years now and won't be for a few more.  Even Lukasz Zaluska knows that "he is Rangers". 

I don't think United fans are getting exercised about Paul Paton.  Reaction I've seen has been very much "meh".

[Rossy]

10 minutes ago, adamntg said:

I don't think United fans are getting exercised about Paul Paton.  Reaction I've seen has been very much "meh".

I'm amazed Arabs aren't running this bawbag out of Dodge. I can only presume you're all too numb to care any more.

The day after United get beat in a cup semi-final, they've got to read about the club captain delighting in Rangers getting to the final.

I'm not a United fan obviously, but that still feels like a massive kick in the nuts to fans who to their credit, have stuck by their team this season.

[sbcmfc]

I suppose if you're a St Mirren fan, "the big one" was their game at the weekend.

I can see how it's disrespectful in that regard.

[Mox]

2 hours ago, Rossy said:

You're a Rangers fan are you not ? Would you just merrily accept one of your players openly stating his support for Celtic ?

This isn't gonna change the lives of St Mirren fans, but ultimately they pay the wages of these idiots and it's disrespectful for footballers to insult the fans of a club by openly stating their support for a rival.

I thought that would have been obvious.

O'Halloran has said publicly that he's a Celtic fan.

[Rossy]

7 minutes ago, Mox said:

O'Halloran has said publicly that he's a Celtic fan.

Has O'Halloran tweeted or texted his support for Celtic since he signed for Rangers ?

[Mox]

7 minutes ago, Rossy said:

Has O'Halloran tweeted or texted his support for Celtic since he signed for Rangers ?

I hope so

[Scotunited]

2 hours ago, Rossy said:

I'm amazed Arabs aren't running this bawbag out of Dodge. I can only presume you're all too numb to care any more.

The day after United get beat in a cup semi-final, they've got to read about the club captain delighting in Rangers getting to the final.

I'm not a United fan obviously, but that still feels like a massive kick in the nuts to fans who to their credit, have stuck by their team this season.

Think united fans are used to sort if this behaviour from Paton, and others.  To be fair to Paton he has been one of the few players that have actually put a shift in this season.   

United fans used to seeing players leave for boyhood hero clubs, think it was that that swayed goodwilllie to sign for Blackburn !

[Marky]

4 hours ago, sbcmfc said:

I suppose if you're a St Mirren fan, "the big one" was their game at the weekend.

I can see how it's disrespectful in that regard.

As a St. Mirren fan I'd say this is completely the point. Timing and choice of words.

Ovviously St. Mirren fans don't expect him to be a St. Mirren supporter just because he plays for the club.

 

[Geed]

Players should not be tweeting about other clubs who they support, as its disrespectful to the clubs fans who pay there wages, would fine them a weeks wages and maybe then they will learn.  Think only thing football players care about these days is money so maybe that would prevent them writing crap on social media about the club they support!!

[RenfrewBlue]

15 hours ago, Mox said:

I hope so