Indeed...
The idea of Wayne Rooney dragging his knuckles across the keyboard is just too funny for words!
Manchester United has banned its players from using social networking websites. In a statement, the football club claimed none of its stars had ever used sites such as Twitter or Facebook and that all player news was communicated via its official website, ManUtd.com. The club wishes to make it clear that no Manchester United …
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... as you not only clicked on this story but then proceeded to take time to comment on it.
It amazes me how any Reg article that has anything to do with football has loads of comments from people saying how little they care about it. Tip - if you hate football/footballers don't click on stories that are clearly about football/footballers.
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...I wouldn't trust a footballer to sit on the toilet the right way round, let alone NOT get himself and his club into shit for spouting something dumb on Twatter of Arsebook.
Can MPs and Film starts also be banned in an effort to stop this c*nt-tree turning into the living, breathing edition of Heat Magazine that is becoming so quickly?
Indeed, neither can ManU management. This is not of course about footballers being Web 2.0 savvy where the boardroom fogeys are not, but about ManU probably being bankrupt (a technical matter of course - much like whether you wish to apply Basel I, Basel II, or the mooted Basel III accounting conventions to banks).
I've worked as a contractor and directly with the government in positions where membership to social sites has been heavily discouraged and sometimes not allowed. I've seen it with some levels of sports(high school and college) as well. Most professional sports in the US already have strict regulations on when twitter can be used(only after press conferences) and some content displayed on social networking sites.
Parliament should take note of this, and go into emergency session to protect the rights of the British working man by passing new laws which forbid employers from interfering in the on-line activities of their employees - with exemptions for M. I. 5, M. I. 6, the Communications Research Establishment, and so on, but not for a mere rugby team.
Clearly, this would not have arisen if there weren't a market failure going on, and so legislation is clearly also needed to ensure that the player's labor union, and not the league or the team owners, is in the driver's seat. After all, Britain has a Labor government now; it's not as if Margaret Thatcher is still running things!
How on Earth is an employer allowed to determine what the employees can and cannot do out of job-related activities? If they had determined that the players were not allowed to talk about professional stuff, then that would be more acceptable. But if the bloke wants to "twitter" about his petunia growing hobby or "facebook" with his cat mates, who the hell has anything to do with it?
They should be allowed to friend Paris on Facebook.
Another stupid rule imposed with no aforethought.
The idiot who dreamed this one up should become a Labour MP - he has the brains.
P.S. Did you know Manchester United is the official football team of VietNam - I have a set of glasses that says so. I also have a packet of Google toilet paper - wonderful country! (VietNam, that is)
"Stop people writing blogs, stop any letters to the local rag about the council's plans."
And bring an immediate halt to the heinous practice of commenting on El Reg during the hours of daylight?
We're I a Mank. Utd. foopballer, I should take great pleasure in telling The Mgt where to stick its pettifoggery.