Updated, Monday, 07.29
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND and Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson has deleted his Twitter account after becoming fed up with the volume of abusive messages he was being sent – within just two hours of setting up his account.
Gibson, who has won 16 senior caps for the Republic and is a fringe member of the United squad, set up a @dgibbo28 account (28 being his shirt number at United) shortly after noon today.
But within two hours, the account had disappeared entirely – after the 23-year-old became apparently unwilling to put up with negative comments about his footballing ability.
Among the comments directed at him were…
[Warning: there's some NSFW language in here:]
Darren Gibson on Twitter (1)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (2)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (3)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (4)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (5)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (6)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (7)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (8)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (9)
Darren Gibson on Twitter (10)
Other United fans were dismayed at the negative treatment being given to Gibson, however, creating a #getgibboback hashtag trying to urge the Derry-born midfielder to return to the site.
Update 1 (7pm, Sunday): The Times’ Oliver Kay has tweeted to share the news that Gibson apparently deleted the account because he was being driven nuts by the volume of tweets he was receiving by SMS. (Thanks to Paul Conroy in the comments field.)
Update 2 (7:30am, Monday): Gibson’s Man Utd teammate Rio Ferdinand has also tweeted to explain Gibson’s absence – and has given a different account to that of Kay. “Darron Gibson says he came on to see what the lads were up to… he came off because he couldn’t be bothered with it, not [for] any other reason,” he tweeted last night.
Among Gibson’s Manchester United colleagues who are (apparently) more willing to put up with potential criticisms on Twitter include Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Luis Nani, Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia, Jonny Evans and Anders Lindegaard.
Rooney, who boasts almost 200,000 followers, only joined the site on Saturday morning.
Gibson has been the centre of some controversy before, when he was the subject of a tug-of-war between the Republic and Northern Ireland over whether he should be allowed to play for the Republic or not.
Should a professional footballer be expected to put up with such comments?
I’d say Van Gall is a very difficult man to work with.. He comes across so arrogant he even makes alex ferguson look humble..
I’m sure Giggs was happy with the win but just not in the manner in which it came
Never mind the relationship, who cares, where the fck do these generic incompetent reporters come from? You could get an app on a phone that would ask smarter questions….
I’m sure he’s delighted to have such an ambitious, ruthless and absolutely incredibly popular assistant manager.
Old Scholes didn’t exactly give him the vote of confidence the other day and I’m sure he’s still close with Giggs, I wonder did he know Paul was going to stick the boot in.
He seriously needs to chill out!
I always thought van gaal thought giggsy was a bit of a simp
He’s an awkward man!
Not sure about LVG. All arrogance and yet to back it up. Serious money spent and the team is a shambles. They create next to nothing. When they do score it’s more an accident than anything else. Terrible defence. Jones, Smalling & Fabio (is that his name?) are awful – should be playing with Derby or Burnley. Rojo way too rash. People go on about Falcao not scoring???? United create nothing for him. Give him some service and I’m certain he’ll put them away – he is proven quality. Di Maria? Don’t know what’s happened to him. Blind is as average as the day is long. He’s the dutch Glenn Whelan, every pass is sideways or backwards. LVG brings on Fellaini to dig him out of a hole every 2nd game? Unreal. I wonder does the chap realise how lucky he is to play for United – he’s absolutely rubbish. And I’m not jumping on the band wagon, I thought that from day one. Ever see him try to control the ball with his fee? He’s not able to. I suppose the only good thing is that they are 4th, but I fancy Liverpool to finish 4th. United with a lot of tough fixtures in the last 12 odd games. (Liverpool, Spurs, City, Chelsea, Everton)
Dutch Glen Whelan I love it
Ah the paper looks for angle
Man U are pure shite this season.