Blues boss Paul Jewell says he’d rather his players did their talking on the pitch rather than on Twitter. The Town manager confirmed that he will have a word with Michael Chopra and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas regarding their comments criticising supporters, although they won’t face disciplinary action.

Jewell said: “I’ll just say ‘look, I know we’re having a tough time, but don’t antagonise people’.

“I don’t even know exactly what’s been said, I’ve just been made aware of it, and I’ve got more things to do than go on Twitter. I’ve got to go on Facebook!" he joked. "I’d rather just let the players do their talking on the pitch.”

Not having used Twitter himself, the Town boss admits that he’s at a loss as to why players go on it: “How many players are going to get into trouble with Twitter before they realise that it’s not worth the hassle?

“I’m talking about Twitter as if I know what it is. I don’t even know what it is, how to get on there, how to get off it. But I know that every time I put the TV on, someone’s in trouble for Twitter.

“I don’t think it’s clever to say anything to fans that’s going to get their goats up,” he added. “I don’t think it’s particularly brave to slag people off on Twitter if you’re a fan. There are two sides.”

Jewell is well aware that supporters are the lifeblood of clubs: “The fans of this football club, like all football clubs, are the most important people. Players, managers, owners, directors, press guys, we’re only here for a while, the supporters will always be here.

“We understand the passion. I certainly understand the passion, I’ve been a fan myself, I understand their drive.

“Sometimes a little bit of common sense has to come into it. People shout things and say things. We talk about racism in football as if it’s the only kind [of abuse] that happens.

“We all get abuse, just because it’s not about the colour of anybody’s skin doesn’t make it right. But that’s another subject.”

Ideally, he admits he’d stop his players from tweeting: “I’d like to ban them from Twitter, but I don’t think we can. If Twitter and Facebook are used for what they were probably set up for, people communicating with one another on the other side of the world, they’re fantastic.

“But it’s easy for faceless people, like on Internet forums. Why does no one put their name and address on them? They all use pseudonyms.

“There’s nothing wrong with debate and it can get heated, but when people get abusive, I think it’s quite cowardly, whether that’s a supporter or a player.

“I don’t condone players getting involved. If fans are going to go on there and have their say, why do you go on and read it? I don’t get it.

“If people want to go on there and be abusive to you, the best thing you can do is to just ignore it, don’t go on it.

“They’ll read it when they say nice things about them, won’t they? So if they go on it, they’ve got to take the consequences.”

Photo: Action Images

bgexile added 07:11 - Sep 22 Fair comment
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WorcesterBlue added 07:30 - Sep 22 I agree Mr Jewell and maybe some of the abusive posters on here should take note should we lose today (we won't). Best way to end all of this is for Chopra and JET to do their talking on the pitch (though not sure JET deserves it) and PJ to sort the team and the tactics out. Hyam in. Martin behind striker. Elliot or Ainsley behind Edwards.
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muccletonjoe added 07:39 - Sep 22 There are several things jewel could do today , higgingbotham , will no doubt come in for smith which must be seen as an improvement , hyam should play in the side before any loanee , and carson or martin should play ahead of murphy , upfront , without taylor and the sulking mr chopra , we have a chance to add youthful presence to that of jason scotland , the last person i want to see turning out up there is jet. At this stage if i was jewel i would go for a complete overhaul and go for it . His performance to date suggests he will go out with whimper however.

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bluefeast added 07:41 - Sep 22 I enjoyed the comment where the word faceless is used. Check the word faceless in the oxford concise dictionary and it comes up with Marcus Evans.
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alfromcol added 07:51 - Sep 22 Well put PJ although as ever a bit of a rambling statement, most of the salient points are in there.
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IamSpartacus added 08:44 - Sep 22 I really think JET, Chopra and any players unhappy with negative comments should just grow up. Yes, there is a line where it becomes abuse, but we pay to watch or just support the club and with that is earnt an opinion. I'm sure Chopra et al would accept the plaudits when things go well, with his comparitively huge wages (compare to the average supporter) goes the responsibility to accept this angle of the job. As ever though, Jewell jibbers and it all becomes white noise....

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JimmyJazz added 08:55 - Sep 22 I sir, do not use a pseudonym!!
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Hally543 added 09:05 - Sep 22 What's this rubbish about playing our players over loans? Unfortunately Hyam is not as good as Luongo yet and Carson seems to have gone backwards from last season so I would prefer murphy to play as he can win headers. If our players are not up to scratch I'd prefer to see us play our best team and if that includes loan players the so be it.
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jocasaja added 09:46 - Sep 22 Fair comments - This must be the first time I have looked on here and found every comment to be reasoned, balanced and free of OTT abuse - I still believe that we have the makings of a very good team and that PJ could turn out to be a success - COYB
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AbujaBlue added 09:57 - Sep 22 I think sadly that because of the success of TWTD, some of the moronic fans who bait JET and Chopra are bound to be members of this site. Sometimes I see opposition forums and wish we were all as cordial and respectful as they are to their team, but then I look at the number of members compared TWTD and notice that it is dwarfed. Good fan sites attract all sorts, so must learn to live with the good and the bad elements; or at least live with the good and use the ignore feature on the bad! Twitter also has a block/ignore function, so if we can do it on here so should Chopra, JET etc. on Twitter.

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muccletonjoe added 10:23 - Sep 22 Hally 543 , How can you say you would rather watch players from other teams over our own , the only way they are going to improve is by playing in the first team and getting the experience they need . How can you say carson has gone backwards when he hasnt been selected since the first week of the season ? hyam was far better than lluongo on the opening game of the season against blackburn , as usual he has been forsaken as soon as we lose a game , and we havnt won again since he has been dropped , your argument dosnt stand up on any front .

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StuartBrett8 added 10:24 - Sep 22 To be fair I always use my name in forum's and on Twitter... I'd like to think I'm a nice person on and off line. The other thing is, when you post something on Twitter that is pure genius at least they know who wrote it :)
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budgieplucker added 11:01 - Sep 22 I agree with what PJ says. People should be able to express their opinions both positive and negative. The players are supposed to be "professionals" and must learn to be impervious to comments , whilst I totally agree that abuse is totally out of order and unwarranted and we should all express our dis-taste and disgust for some of the mindless comments that are offered up just think how referees feel? Regardless of what you think of referees on match day you have to give the people in black some respect for going out there and being slated each week, having to make split second decisions with bodies in the way and then being judged by camera's and slow motion action replays. And what do they earn in comparison to players? So players would do well to think what cheating on the pitch does (unprofessional) and how difficult it makes it for the referee and the stick they get for getting decisions wrong. So my advice to the players is do a lot more intelligent thinking - if someone likes to give me 10k a week you can all call me what you want.

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warwickblue added 11:15 - Sep 22 I was just talking to Mrs Budgieplucker in Asda the other day about how fortunate it is that her husband doesn't have to use a psuedonym on TWTD
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budgieplucker added 11:29 - Sep 22 Just like to add one more comment, I personally think TWTD is a great website - as when issues like this come up it can be seen as an attack on forums like this. Phil does a great job, we have to take a bit of the rough with the smooth, but we can click on the report abuse icon, plus we can all try and influence the tone of some of the posts in our responses, I think we have some great bloggers and posters and some superb humour. It is inevitable like when watching comedians sometimes there will be things that do stray to wards the boundaries of distasteful. One overriding point though if none of us gave a damn then there wouldn't be any passion for our beloved football club - a much sadder scenario. TWTD is a great therapy for all us football fans who only want to see better days for our ITFC. Keep up the good work, and fellow posters especially keep the great humour flowing.

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chorltonskylineblue added 08:35 - Sep 23 The first sensible thing PJ has said in 21 months - i.e. about players using Twitter. The only problem is that rather than keeping it to a short statement he has to babble on and ends up sounding like a Daily Mail columnist.
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