Some will say that the internet has ruined the world. George Orwell wrote that we were worried that we were being watched by Big Brother, and now we're worried that we're not being watched at all, and whereas the Egyptians worshipped cats as Gods, now we spend our days laughing at funny pictures of them.
But to be fair to the internet, it has provided a theatre for feuds between pretty bizarre parties, and today served us a doozy.
In the Red Corner: Virgin Trains, Richard Branson's notoriously unreliable train service.
In the (claret and) Blue Corner: the desecrated shell of a former European Cup winner, Aston Villa.
Villa sacked Roberto di Matteo yesterday, and Virgin Trains decided to get on board (sorry) with some guerilla marketing, by tweeting the following shade:
With Roberto Di Matteo leaving, the next batch of potential #AVFC managers have just left for Birmingham New Street... pic.twitter.com/1h6RX1x2uO
— Virgin Trains (@VirginTrains) October 3, 2016
Aston Villa were not prepared taking this insult against their mismanagement of their own club lying down, and decided to fire back:
Would our managerial candidates actually get here for interviews on time if they arrived via @VirginTrains?
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 4, 2016
They also tweeted the club's storied past:
1 European Cup
7 League Championships
7 FA Cups
5 League Cups
Get back in your Quiet Coach @VirginTrains! 😶— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 4, 2016
And then, Virgin came back with an incredibly limp riposte:
We've had more trains arrive on time in the last week than you've had wins in 12 months @AVFCOfficial https://t.co/5kspi2aYMw
— Virgin Trains (@VirginTrains) October 4, 2016
Football fans will not need pointing out how bad a reply that is by Virgin. Villa have won four games in the past twelve months. FOUR.
That means that Virgin are harrumphing about the fact they've had five trains arrive on time in the past seven days. Which might actually be accurate.
A limp response, but then we're writing about Virgin this afternoon, so maybe their tweets have had their intended response.
