Barnsley’s Lee Johnson says that even though social media has certainly helped in closing the bridge that existed between players and fans, it’s something that can turn into a big risk for certain players, especially for the young ones as they can get more easily influenced by the opinions of other people.
“Social media is a big problem for young players. They can have complete swings and, sometimes, you can’t police everything or hold their hands.By the same token, if your team is flying, you can have young players who get ahead of themselves and start thinking they are Maradona when they are more Madonna.There’s always challenges in football, as you are dealing with humans’’ Lee Johnson of Barnsley said.
Social media can certainly be a big risk or even a huge source of motivation for players but the younger performers have to find a way to stay focused in their matches and try on not getting too carried away by what they see outside of the actual pitch.
When managers talk in press conferences and things of this nature, they usually go around revealing information about their squads as well as what they are planning to win in the next few months but in one of the latest discussions that the media had with Lee Johnson, the 34 year old English manager used social media as one of his main talking points which is surprising but taking into consideration that Johnson has one of the youngest squads in the entire Football League, it’s a discussion that can help avoid unnecessary drama and problems along the way.
Lee Johnson wants to see his players acting professionally not only inside the pitch but outside of it as well and not get too caught up by what other people say. Back in 2014, there was an incident which occurred involving a man who sent racist tweets to former players of Rangers Kyle Bartley and Maurice Edu and it was because of these tweets that the man ended up being jailed for half of a year. This is what Lee Johnson is hoping that his players can avoid doing, not having to face serious consequences for things that can be easily avoided.
The main thing that Lee Johnson wants to see his squad focusing on, is in getting into the higher spots of the English League One as they are currently located in the bottom spots and are in danger of getting relegated.