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.”