THERE are times when posting on social media is inadvisable. After your fourth pint or glass of wine, for example. A lesson learned very early on after joining Twitter was that what might sound like a belter of a joke in the head of the 2am you, may not actually be quite so funny to the 9am you, who has a hundred notifications and a hefty dose of the fear.
Another time when stepping away from your phone may be in your best interests, from a footballer’s point of view, is after signing a pre-contract agreement. Particularly when it is with a rival team in the same league as your current side, who you will then have to play against.
Sadly, Jordan Jones of Kilmarnock was never given such sage advice, and as such, has landed himself in a spot of hot water with the Killie faithful for his ill-judged tweet upon securing a move to boyhood heroes Rangers in the summer.
“Unbelievably proud day for me and my family, I’ve waited for this moment for a long time and today is a dream come true!” wrote Jones. Nothing too bad about that, you might think. Only the most mean-spirited would find offence in a message that simply conveys understandable excitement at such a massive juncture in a young man’s life.
Oh, but wait. Then came the kicker. Jones signed off his tweet with the signature battle-cry so beloved of Rangers supporters, #WATP. Ah Jordan, you came so close.
If you are a Rangers supporter, then you will probably wonder why this has gotten the Kilmarnock supporters knickers in such a twist. But if not, you will probably understand wholeheartedly.
For supporters of any side, the prospect of losing one of your top players – although the likes of Alan Power have been more integral to Kilmarnock’s success this season – is an unwelcome one. When it is to a rival in the same division, that is even more galling, but still forgivable. No one could grudge a player a chance to better himself professionally, and certainly financially.
But there are ways to leave a club, and that should be a particularly sensitive consideration when you will still be pulling on your current team’s shirt for half a season. Even more so when there is just a point between your current and future club in the Premiership standings. And that is what will have made Jones’s tweet all the harder to stomach.
Supporters of smaller clubs spend 99% of their existence in the shadow of the Old Firm. So, when the perhaps once-in-a-lifetime chance arrives when their team are not only able to hang onto their coattails but carry the fight to them, the last thing they want to hear is one of their own espousing his love for either side.
When June arrives and Jones finally becomes a Rangers player, he can tweet videos of him singing ‘Follow Follow’ in the Louden Tavern with the Union Bears for all Killie fans could care, but the timing of his tweet was insensitive at best, and unprofessional at worst.
Inevitably, it has led to questions arising around his commitment to the Rugby Park cause, so much so that the winger and manager Steve Clarke held a joint press conference yesterday to reiterate Jones’s dedication to the club.
Here, Jones made all the right noises. He conceded he had been over-excited in his rush to pick up his phone and conceded that he will have to prove his commitment to the Killie fans through his performances.
His manager stressed that if his club’s supporters booed the player, they would be booing him and his team selection. Yet another astute move by Clarke to put himself in the firing line between his player and his critics.
The proof of Jones’s commitment will be in the pudding. If he puts on dazzling performances between now and the end of the season, perhaps helping Kilmarnock to finish above Rangers, then this will all be forgotten.
And what do you know? After a Scottish Cup tie against Forfar this weekend, Kilmarnock take on Rangers on Wednesday in their first Premiership fixture after the winter break.
If he bags the winner there, even Gordon Sawyers would have to say that all would be forgiven.
AND ANOTHER THING
SPEAKING of Twitter, the platform was ablaze with rumour and innuendo surrounding Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek this week, with the England international supposedly on the cusp of coming out as the country's first openly gay active footballer.
His quashing of the speculation was classy, affirming firstly his support for any gay player who may want to come out, before confirming the rumours were false.
Sadly, the sheer volume of homophobic tweets that were circulating from supporters of even his own club before he refuted those rumours, showed that football is far from ready to burst that taboo.
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