Recently we have seen players getting into trouble for things they have done on the social networking website Twitter. In January of this year former Liverpool player Ryan Babel was fined £10,000 for posting a photo of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt. The post was intended as a joke and a reaction to decisions that were made in the match featuring Liverpool and Manchester United refereed by Webb.

Within the last few days, Carlton Cole faces a charge for a comment he made on his Twitter account. Cole made the comment during the recent international friendly between England and Ghana. Cole tweeted “Immigration has surrounded the Wembley premises! I knew it was a trap! Hahahaha. The only way to get out safely is to wear an England jersey and paint your face w/ the St. George’s flag!”

It appears that charges for the use of Twitter are becoming more common and it is certainly something players will need to be vigilant of. The real issue here is who should be policing the use of Twitter, the club the player/s are contracted to, the players themselves or the FA?

At the moment it seems like the FA are taking control – but in the first case can matters of this nature be kept in house by the club? Is there any scope for an outright ban on Twitter or would that make matters worse?

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I think there is also a role that can be played by both the FA and the club in the form of education. It would be useful to everyone if the FA can release some information on what sort of things are likely to be investigated and what sort of things are just harmless banter. The club can let their players know that they should be careful on what they write on Twitter and again outline what sort of things the players should aim to stay away from.

Once players have a clear understanding on what they should and should not write then they can regulate themselves; if they then step out of those guidelines and get fined by the FA they really only have themselves to blame. But as Ipswich Town player Billy Clark recently found out, it’s not always a case of comments that can get you into trouble with the FA that you have to be wary of. Ipswich Town manager Paul Jewell recently made the decision to not offer Clark a new contract beyond the end of this season. Clark foolishly made a public tweet directed towards a fan to suggest he was glad to be leaving and after hearing about this Jewell has informed Clark that if he feels this way then he should leave immediately.

Twitter is a wonderful tool and used the right way can bring players, fans and the club closer together – but it should be respected and used sensibly.

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