You can really tell when a professional footballer has a person, or a team of people, looking after their social media account, as it seems like the more famous the player, the more useless their activity on Instagram and Twitter.
While Cristiano Ronaldo's Instagram is exclusively for promoting products and pictures of his (admittedly very cute) son, football fans by far prefer a more personal approach seen by the likes of James McClean, who tweets how he actually feels as opposed to tweeting things that have had to get the go-ahead by a sponsor first.
We also often see these sponsored social media posts attempt to feel more personal, and one such example has been highlighted by Daniel Taylor in The Guardian.
Taylor published a well-informed look at the current situation surrounding Louis Van Gaal's future, but chose to open the piece by criticising Phil Jones for using a tragedy to promote his own brand, and raise the question as to whether things that would usually be considered unacceptable at the club are now being accepted.
It was the anniversary of the Munich air tragedy a couple of weeks ago and, among all the tributes, perhaps you missed the way Phil Jones marked the occasion, by posting the iconic photograph of the Busby Babes on his Twitter account and, for reasons probably known only to him, emblazoning the picture with his own promotional branding. “Never forget,” Jones solemnly noted above the lineup of Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor and all the rest, decorated with the logon details for @PhilJones4 as well as instructions for his Facebook, where to see his Instagram pictures, his Weibo micro-blogging account for fans in China, and topped off with his signature, PJ4, in the top corner. “Never forget” – and click here if you want to see a photo of Phil stroking his pug dogs on an expensive-looking sofa.
In the grand scheme of things, it may not register too highly on their list of priorities, therefore, that one of their players could be accused of using the Munich tragedy to promote a brand that, with apologies to whoever came up with this PJ4 lark, sounds suspiciously like a range of children’s pyjamas. But it did make me wonder whether anyone might have gently pointed out to Jones that it wasn’t perhaps the done thing. Does that structure still exist these days? Or is it another of the things that have been lost in the post‑Ferguson age, along with everything else the supporters of this club once took for granted?
Here is the tweet in question:
Never forget #flowersofmanchester #BusbyBabes pic.twitter.com/4hiLGqrORG
— Phil Jones (@PhilJones4) February 6, 2016
Now, it's not like Phil Jones went into Photoshop and slapped his own logo all over the image, far from it, he probably had very little input into the situation, but Taylor is looking at the bigger picture and drawing a comparison to the running of Manchester United as a whole.
It's something that Phil Jones would be very upset about, naturally, if he were aware but as the post still exists to this day, along with a few upset tweets beneath, it suggests that he does not.
Perhaps he is being a bit harsh, and it may also be seen as a bit much to compare the troubles with the club this season to an ill-advised tweet, but to us it seemed like an interesting take on things.
Let us know what you think. Is he reading too much into twitter, or has he got a point?
