There will be no shortage of comment on how Chelsea and Queen’s Park Rangers faired against each other after Sunday’s game, with social media platforms bound to be busy.
It remains to be seen whether Rangers midfielder and prominent user of Twitter, Joey Barton, will have his say after the final whistle, but ahead of the game Andre Villas-Boas has passed comment on Barton, and on how social media usage by players is viewed at Chelsea.
“Joey Barton is one the strong characters of the game,’ Villas-Boas observes.
‘He has strong charisma and personality and he is a person who is not afraid to say what he thinks, and I also think he is a pretty good footballer. I like his qualities.
‘Independent from football, not all of us share his opinion and his views but that is normal day-to-day life.
‘Nothing that Joey has to say or what we say about him is going to play a part in Sunday’s game.”
Normal life for many in 2011 includes the prodigious use of social media and Villas-Boas appreciates the role it plays.
“I believe Twitter and Facebook are social tools and should be used as social tools,’ he says.
‘I see no problems with our players using Twitter as a social tool. I don’t think it should be used as a tool that affects your professional way of life, and this would include commenting on whatever happens in your professional life. In football whatever happens is not just yours, it involves an entire group of players so it is unfair if you do that.
‘But as a social tool it is excellent which is why it is so popular. Twitter has grown immensely in the last couple of years but that does not mean it is a tool that all the players will use at Chelsea. A couple of the guys here use it and they know the kind of power it has.
‘We think of it as a communication vehicle and it has to be put in the same category as dealing with the media.”
There is no use of modern communication technology by Villas-Boas when it comes to informing his players of his team choices. He instead relies on face-to-face talking and considers selecting the 11 to play as the hardest part of his job.
Read the full article on the Chelsea FC website.
By Clare Smith
Twitter @chelsea4girls