The official FA Cup Twitter account are not having a great time of it lately.
You may remember back in April during the FA Cup semi-final, a tweet joking about Harry Kane being in Chris Smalling's pocket didn't go down too well with Spurs fans and the club itself. An official association's social media account taking the piss out of that same country's captain two months before the World Cup, while amusing to some, was always going to result in a deleted tweet and an apology.
In what might appear as a belated attempt to mend fences with those Spurs fans, that same official twitter account has now enraged fans of their London rivals Chelsea with an ill-advised tweet about #WorldEmojiDay.
Following Chelsea's FA Cup victory in May, Willian hit the headlines with a controversial post where he used some trophy emoji's to hide Antonio Conte from view in a team photo. This was widely interpreted as a public dig at his then manager, with whom the Brazilian had fallen out in the latter part of last season.
Interesting placement of trophy emojis by Willian here... #cfc pic.twitter.com/yjTpN39Olz
— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) May 20, 2018
The original post was deleted and Conte has since left Stamford Bridge, but his former club's fans reacted furiously to a re-post of Willian's photo with the caption: "Our #WorldEmojiDay Award for creativity goes to @willianborges88."
The FA tweet was visible on the account for a number of hours before being removed, with a spokesperson issuing the inevitable apology "for any offence caused". This didn't prevent some Chelsea fans voicing their outrage on social media at the apparent disrespect shown by the FA account towards Conte, having won the competition.
Quite whether the Chelsea faithful are any more forgiving to Willian for the original photo may become immaterial, with a number of reports linking him with a move away from Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho has long been mentioned as a potential suitor having worked with him previously, but the latest reports suggest that Barcelona may be weighing up a bid.
With Chelsea's transfer rumour mill mostly focusing on outs than ins, a nervy few weeks may lie ahead for their support before the window shuts.
