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'IT'S DISRESPECTFUL'

BBC forced to delete tweet showing Ugo Ehiogu Championship Manager stats following his tragic death

Social media reacts in fury after 'unfortunate error of judgement' from the Beeb

THE BBC were accused of showing disrespect as they were forced to delete a tweet about Ugo Ehiogu’s Championship Manager stats.

Former England defender Ehiogu died early on Friday after suffering a heart attack at Tottenham’s training ground the previous day.

 This was the tweet that BBC Sport sent out this morning
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 This was the tweet that BBC Sport sent out this morning
 Ugo Ehiogu has died at the age of 44
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Ugo Ehiogu has died at the age of 44Credit: Getty Images

He was rushed by ambulance to hospital, but he sadly passed away this morning.


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A number of football fans and former Premier League team-mates flooded social media to pay tribute to the 44-year-old.

However, an ill-judged post from BBC Sport was quickly taken down after it received a huge negative reaction.

Alongside a picture of his stats from the game back in the 1996/97 season, BBC tweeted: “Just look at Ugo Ehiogu's stats on Championship Manager 2... What a career the ex-Aston Villa man had.”

Ehiogu was rated highly for his influence, strength and aggression, scoring the top mark of 20 in each. His tackling was also rated at 18.

The defender played every game for Aston Villa that season as they finished fifth.

Twitter users immediately reacted to the post, hitting back at the insensitive nature of the tweet and demanding for it to be deleted.

 Ehiogu spent most of his career at the top level and captained Aston Villa
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Ehiogu spent most of his career at the top level and captained Aston VillaCredit: Getty Images
 Ehiogu was working at Spurs as the Under-23s coach
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Ehiogu was working at Spurs as the Under-23s coachCredit: Getty Images
 Ugo Ehiogu celebrates scoring for England against Spain in one of his four appearances
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Ugo Ehiogu celebrates scoring for England against Spain in one of his four appearancesCredit: Reuters

Those requests were quickly granted.

Twitter user Donald MacCuish wrote: “Disrespectful tweet given he passed away this morning, you want to analyse his stats from a computer game?”

Another said: “BBC is this you're [sic] idea of showing respect? What next, a clip of him on FIFA?'”

While another simply added: “Delete this.”

BBC issued a statement later in the day, saying: “The tweet was an unfortunate error of judgement and was deleted immediately.”

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