Chris Lepkowski: Gulf between players and fans getting wider

Apr 1 2010 by Chris Lepkowski, Birmingham Post

Football fans have come a long way when it comes to expressing views. And so, it seems have footballers.

It used to be merely a rant over a pint or seven.

Along came the phone-in on your local radio station. A perfect opportunity to explain to the radio presenter-turned-agony uncle why so-and-so has no Plan B, where he is tactically naive and exactly why he is looking for that dressing room he’s lost.

The letters page of your local paper remains a favoured port of call.

Then, along came the Internet. Message boards and forums sprang up. No longer are you John from Sutton Coldfield or Terence from Solihull, you are now Milnersleftfoot18 or Sullivanmustgo. No one knows who you are, where you live and you can debate away, have full-blown rows or, potentially, libel and defame away without a care in the world.

Managers can go from zero to hero and back again in the space of three games. Everyone has a view.

But what of footballers? The days of players enjoying a game of darts down the local working man’s club are gone, though the notion of, say, a Premier League star popping down to the local Labour Club would certainly open a few eyes.

Where once apprentices would sweep the terraces and paint the sides of the stand, these days you’re just as likely to find an academy youngster sat in a classroom being tutored about what they will be asked by those horrible media types and, more importantly, how they should answer. We are breeding a generation of bores, whose straight-batting would be more suited to a cricket field than a press conference.

The likes of Geoff Horsfield, talking about demolishing a wall before helping Albion stay up, are being phased out by those who ‘take each game as it comes’, ‘aren’t getting carried away’ and ‘are fully focused’. Most if not all interviews are taped by press officers these days.

Players are not allowed to think for themselves – a case of best tow the party line, just in case something we say gets used against us in six months time. Like anyone really cares. Football is eating itself, especially at the highest levels.

One journalist I know was recently reprimanded by a press officer because he dared use some quotes – said in a media conference – about the player expressing a doubt over his long-term future because of his lack of first-team chances. The reporter was told that it ‘wasn’t a story’.

And what of social networking sites?

Manchester United have banned players from Facebook, Twitter and other forums. Elsewhere, apparently, Borja Valero’s loan move from Albion to Real Mallorca was exclusively revealed to his legion of friends on Facebook.

Darren Bent revealed to his Twitter followers that he wanted to reject Stoke and Hull, but quite fancied a move to Sunderland – while having a dig at his bosses at Spurs. All in the space of 140 characters, which takes some doing.

And then there was James Collins, the dedicated Villa professional who used his own page on Saturday to express his embarrassment and apologies for their hammering at Chelsea.

It was a admirable gesture by the Welsh international. It showed that in the mercenary just-passing-through nature of modern footballers there are still some whose Saturday night’s are ruined by bad results.

His Twitter page has since disappeared.

That’s a shame because it was obvious fans appreciated his comment.

This is what football mustn’t lose. While football fans have never been so blessed with mediums of interaction, players are slowly having the personality and social skills squeezed out of them.

One day football clubs may even come to regret this need to extend the distance between players and fans.

Perhaps it should be remembered that these are sportsmen we are talking about – not world leaders making life-changing decisions.