Twitter can be an incredible source for news, videos, and immediate reaction to major events in the world, but it can also house some right gobshites.
Many people out there love nothing more than winding up public figures, and it seems that athletes and former sports stars come in for tirades of abuse from keyboard warriors all over the world.
For example, every single tweet that Gary Lineker sends immediately receives dozens of replies that take one word of what he has said and put it beside "Shat on...", reminding the former Barcelona and England striker that he once shat himself on the pitch against Ireland at Italia 90.
Lineker has given up trying to find out why people seem so obsessed with this (honestly, go and look at the replies to Lineker's latest tweet at time of writing), but there are many players out there who seem to love calling a spade a spade, or in this case, a gobshite a gobshite.
Here are four former footballers who will give it right back if you start mouthing off to them on Twitter.
Alan Shearer
Newcastle's favourite son seems to relish it when someone has a pop at him on twitter whether it was over something he said on MOTD, or someone taking a jibe at his lack of career medals. He also enjoys using hashtags to make his point in style:
@bootifulgame or maybe I scored all the goals in the box for the team instead #dickhead
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) June 11, 2016
Joey Barton
You should know full-well what to expect from trying to take a pop at Joey Barton, as he has never been shy when it comes to letting people know what he thinks of them. You'll get a lot of insight into politics and literature from following Barton, but you'll also get a few gems like this:
“@1969Adams259: @Joey7Barton ha ha ha u would say that MCFC REJECT !!!” Reject?? Kept you up on my own for a few seasons! #muppet ?
— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) August 17, 2014
Didi Hamann
If he's not on RTÉ letting the world know what he thinks about the state of English football, Didi is probably live-tweeting cricket on twitter, and if he's not doing that he's interacting with his followers in a way that lets his German-ness shine through with some magnificent blunt responses.
John Arne Riise
There can't be many footballers as active on twitter as former Liverpool full-back John Arne Riise, as he is always replying to fans and... Other people as well.
Of course two of our list members here had a very personal twitter spat a few years back, so be warned, you'd better be ready for a reply if you take a shot.
