Horrific abuse from football fans on social media won’t shut me up… there is no need to get so nasty
I DARED to suggest that Liverpool should not have been awarded their penalty against Everton.
What followed from the Merseyside third-round clash was a barrage of abuse on Twitter — directed towards me, as well as my wife and children.
I appreciate that these people are keyboard warriors and if you walked past them in the street, they wouldn’t have the front to say anything to you.
And I don’t usually take what they say too seriously.
But when your family comes into it, that is overstepping the mark and that is when I take exception and tend to want to have a pop back.
What is wrong with some football fans? Where has the humour gone?
It used to be that you could have a go and it was light-hearted, a friendly rivalry. But now you get this nastiness and cruelty.
I have had plenty of death threats on Twitter and just look at the alleged abuse Jake Livermore received from a fan at West Ham last week.
F***K OFF Alan Shearer livid after being abused on social media
Football seems to be the only sport that brings this side out of people.
I don’t see it in golf — which I play — or rugby, which my son plays and is a far more respectful sport.
But in football, there seems to be a mentality where people think it is OK to abuse you.
There is no doubt Twitter and other social media has brought a lot of it on.
When I first started out as a pundit 12 years ago, you would give your opinion and that was it. You might walk past someone on the street and if they had something to say they would say it in a polite way and that was fine.
But social media has allowed a lot of idiots to have a voice.
There are a section of people that seem to use it as a way to be pretty disgusting and to vent all their anger.
And, unfortunately, the horrible ones are the ones you hear from, because when people agree with you, they don’t tend to say anything.
Now, as a pundit, if you say anything you are seen as biased.
This season, I have apparently been biased against Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool — and the rest.
VAR - IS IT REALLY THE ANSWER?
I AM all for introducing more technology to assist the referees with fact-based decisions, like offsides.
However, VAR is still going be someone’s opinion and I think it will be chaos.
It is coming in, so we have to accept it.
But the same arguments and issues are going to arise and it could cause more problems than it solves.
I’m even accused of being biased towards Manchester United!
Where’s the logic? Fans seem to forget that we played football for 30 years.
I know from experience when it’s a foul and when the defender wants to foul, or when it’s not a foul and the forward is looking for it.
The incident which sparked such a debate on Friday night was when Adam Lallana went down after contact from Everton defender Mason Holgate and won a penalty.
Liverpool fans were unhappy that in last month’s Premier League Merseyside derby I happened to believe Dejan Lovren’s push on Dominic Calvert-Lewin WAS a penalty and that Friday night’s one wasn’t. But they were two totally different incidents.
In one, the forward was running away from the defender, who shoved him, and in the other they are standing together and all Holgate did was put his arm across Lallana. It wasn’t enough to force him down.
I didn’t think Lallana’s was a penalty and neither did Peter Reid, Danny Murphy and Gary Lineker, who were all in the studio with me.
Martin Keown was the co-commentator on the match and he thought it was a penalty.
And that’s fine, because football is about opinions and once we lose them, it’s the end of the game as we know it.
CONTE AND MOURINHO NEED TO CHILL
THE row between Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte is getting ugly.
And I don’t know who it benefits. It doesn’t help them and it doesn’t help the game of football.
It is petty, schoolboy stuff — he did this, he did that, he said this, he said that.
They should both grow up and stop it now.
It’s just that when we give them, we then get abused.
When I was first a pundit, it used to be that I got criticised for not having an opinion.
So what do fans want? You cannot win.
It doesn’t really affect me. It won’t stop me saying what I want to say.
I’ll stay on Twitter because the vast majority of people are fine and I like to be able to interact with them and have a bit of humour with them at the right time.
I don’t mind if people don’t agree with me or don’t like what I say.
But there is just no need to get nasty and abusive.
Time For Ross To Be Ross
THERE is only so long you can talk about a player having great potential — before they need to start showing it.
And that’s exactly what Ross Barkley must do now. Otherwise he is always going to look back on his career and wonder what might have been.
I don’t really see where he is going to fit into the Chelsea team and I don’t see him being a regular for them.
However, it is still a great opportunity for the player.
Ross is 24 now but he hasn’t kicked on like one or two other England players have since the last World Cup.
I know he has had a serious injury as well — but we’ve been talking about potential for too long with him.
I just hope that in another four years’ time he doesn’t look back and wonder what went wrong.
Klopp’s Big Gap To Phil
PHILIPPE COUTINHO leaving is going to severely dent Liverpool’s top-four and Champions League hopes.
But I’ll be amazed if they can find a replacement for him this month — and it’s a big risk for Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.
Yes, they still have very good players in Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane.
Adam Lallana is back fit and Daniel Sturridge is waiting in the wings.
But you can’t say they won’t miss Coutinho, who is so good that he won’t look out of place in Barcelona’s team.
It seems at the beginning of the season, Liverpool managed to talk the Brazilian around to staying a little longer.
But you can’t criticise Coutinho for wanting the move because Barcelona are a huge club.
Once they come calling, then most players would want to go there.
Coutinho’s attitude for the last five months has also been fantastic.
He has not messed about or downed tools, like some players have in the past when they wanted to get away.
The timing of the transfer has surprised me because Barcelona are running away with La Liga and he can’t play in the Champions League, having already played in it for Liverpool this season.
But we don’t know what was agreed last summer and Barcelona will just be pleased to land their man.
It is a hell of a lot of money but transfer fees have gone up by about 25 per cent since Neymar’s move to Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
And while Liverpool now have the cash in the bank, selling Coutinho could cost them millions more if they fail to qualify for the Champions League.