I have quite a few pet hates when it comes to football in the present day. For example I can’t stand seeing players showing refs imaginary cards, I detest highly paid footballers moaning about playing too many games and I really dislike the Ray Winstone Bet365 adverts that seem to ruin every halftime broadcast.

I’m sure a few people might have football bloggers on some lists!

But there are a lot of things I like about modern age football. The worldwide web gives us so much information; we can learn more from other countries, we can keep up to date in real time and we can develop friendships due to our mutual love of football. A big part of that is down to Twitter.

Through the medium of Twitter I’ve met a lot of football writers and many of them have become good friends. Due to Twitter I have learned more about Brazilian football, I found out Pep Guardiola was leaving Barca and I’ve seen more jokes about Andy Carroll/Fernando Torres/Davie Moyes than I care to recall.

Twitter can also be the enemy though. It gives certain ‘celebrities’ the platform to spout nonsense. Football seems to be a topic that generates the highest volume of crap from these z-listers.

It is this fad, I wish it would fade out, that has to be my biggest hate with modern football.

The biggest face (literally) of this problem has to be Piers Morgan. The former Daily Mirror editor and soon to be former CNN host loves nothing more than to run his mouth on Twitter, usually moaning about his team ‘Arsenal’.

Now if what he said made sense or at least was constructive criticism, then fair enough. But all he seems to do is belittle players who give there all for his football club. If things are going well for the ‘Gunners’ then he will go and troll a player from an opposing team or a celeb fan from an opposing team and will then try and goad them into an argument. As soon as things go wrong at the Emirates, he’s the first to turn against the side and manager Arsene Wenger.

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone as critical of their own team as he is with Arsenal, and I live in the Old Firm goldfish bowl that is Glasgow.

This slimy character has somehow managed to forge a TV career, despite being sacked for endangering British soldiers lives by publishing a picture that turned out to be a hoax. It didn’t really affect me as I could always turn over to another channel or turn off the telly.

But now he has stepped into a domain I care about, football and on a platform that I like, Twitter.

Just this week he questioned Oliver Giroud’s qualities…

Giroud’s a flat track bully – great against small clubs, shockingly ineffective against big clubs. The stats don’t lie. # afc

Now lets face it Arsenal haven’t been great against Chelsea, Man City or Man Utd this term. But no Arsenal player has more than Giroud’s 18 goals. Only Mesut Ozil has had more assists. Those are the main stats. He also has goals against Tottenham, Everton , Dortmund, Fenerbahce and Napoli. I’d say they were pretty big clubs. The whole team have to be questioned in the big games not just the overplayed striker.

He then has a pop at Wenger’s Champions League record…

At what point do we conclude that Wenger’s 16yr Champions League record is actually abysmal, not ‘brilliant’?

When will you understand football Piers?

Arsenal qualifying for the Champions League is a feat in itself. To do it 16 years running is a wonderful record and should be cherished. Yes you haven’t won it but you have reached a final and usually lose out to European powerhouses such as Milan, Bayern or Barcelona.

Teams all over Europe would love Arsenal’s European record. Its not your god given right to be successful in Europe, when you learn that lesson you may not be such a bitter, selfish, arrogant prat.

The best way to support your side is to celebrate the teams triumphs (with some class), question things when the time is right (using valid constructive criticism) and to stick with them when things go wrong (They’ll be hurting just as much as you).

Now why is Piers such a problem to me. ‘Why do you follow him on Twitter?’ you may ask. I don’t! That is the worst part of Twitter, people will re-tweet his drivel all the time. Usually like me they treat him with disdain and they are mocking him for his lack of common sense or knowledge. But alas I still see it and it annoys the hell out of me as people actually take note of what he says.

I have tried blocking his stuff from my Timeline but again it always seems to appear when others re-tweet him.

Its a cross that I will just have to bear but thinking about it if it really is the worst part of modern day football then the game can’t be in such a big mess after all!

Posted on March 13th, 2014 by scott

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