FACT: Abusing players online makes them perform better*
Scottish Football’s week in patter brought to you by the man behind @oldfirmfacts1
“ABSOLUTE shocking from @James_ Tavernier last night not once but twice. Been the bad egg all season in the team, thinks he’s the big man since he’s captain and takes pens.”
You’ll note James Tavernier was tagged in that tweet. It was typed out by a Rangers fan who, like numerous others following the Rangers captain’s mistakes against Young Boys in their recent Europa League defeat, felt it was necessary to let the defender know it was his fault.
Tavernier’s tweets and interviews are straight out the “Yeah, no... as I say, we go again” modern footballer handbook but I’m sure he’s capable of enough reflection and analysis to already have been feeling suitably responsible. It’s doubtful he needed to be told, as one fan did, that “You are now so focused on scoring goals, to fuel your own ego that you have cost us defeats on far too many occasions! Either hand the armband to someone else or do your f***ing job!”.
When a fellow Rangers fan pulled up the man responsible for that tweet, his reply was “It’s not abuse it’s advice”.
I’m sure Tavernier, captain of Rangers Football Club, appreciates the “advice”.
That attempt to justify tweeting him directly calls to mind the classic Billy Connolly routine on the pointlessness of fans shouting instructions at players during games. In the routine, a player responds to the cry of “man on” from a supporter by pausing, thanking the fan and passing the ball. Tagging Tavernier in your abuse is similarly absurd.
What do these people expect? A reply reading: “Oh, I hadn’t thought to stop being s*** and an absolute fraud but now that you’ve pointed it out I’ll start trying to be a good footballer. Cheers @DerrysWalls72.”?
One fan ironically accused him of “making to many mistakes”. Yes, “to many”.
If Tavernier chooses to reply to just one tweet it should be that one, and it should read simply “*Too”.
To their credit, several Rangers fans have criticised their fellow supporters for sending Tavernier abuse. None of those supporters has suggested that the captain is above criticism but they rightly insist that sending the messages to Tavernier is not the right approach.
“If you message abuse to a player who wears the Rangers shirt and who’s trying his damnedest to make you and me happy, then you seriously need to re-evaluate your life. It’s beyond childish and is an absolute redneck,” said @TremendoHendo72.
@RangersRetroPod, meanwhile, tweeted: “See if you’re a (probably glory hunting) Rangers fan and you’re tweeting abuse @James_Tavernier, do me a favour and block me so I don’t need to see your pish. The guy made two mistakes, he’s human. Tweeting abuse at any of our players, let alone our captain, is embarrassing”. Within days of the Tavernier fallout, a similar chain of events befell Celtic’s Ryan Christie.
Just as the Rangers skipper’s mistakes cost his side the game against Young Boys, Christie’s dangerous challenge on Scott Robinson played a major role in Celtic losing 2-0 against Livingston.
Christie too was copied into numerous
abusive tweets, prompting the midfielder to delete his Twitter account. Again, there were numerous despairing Celtic fans such as @LB_1888, who tweeted “Christie has deleted Twitter. One of our top three players and possibly our star man this season. Anyone sending him abuse for one mistake is a f***ing idiot”. Footballers are human (give or take Josh Windass, a laboratory creation with a vaguely human exterior and programmed with rudimentary language skills). Tavernier and Christie will have seen the tweets. The avalanche of excessive criticism could dent their confidence and cause them to overthink what should come naturally to them on the pitch. Alternatively, the insults might fire them up and motivate them to prove the doubters wrong. Either way, the word “mistakes” means ust that. Neither Tavernier nor Christie deliberately set out to sabotage their team’s chances of victory. Tagging players in your abusive tweets is unlikely to make them perform better and s highly unlikely to improve their morale. Above all else, it’s absolutely nailed on to make you look like a d***.