Tweet to Fans Will Cost U.S. Soccer Player Jozy Altidore
Twitter is free but one U.S. football (soccer) player who plays for Hull City found out today, it can be very expensive!
Jozy Altidore has been fined by his team manager Phil Brown for using Twitter. The 19-year-old American striker, who is on loan from Villarreal, was left out of the team's squad in their match against Portsmouth which ended in a 0-0 draw for arriving late at the stadium. He would have otherwise been on the bench but was replaced by Atkinson.
Altidore feeling miserable for letting his fans down, then Tweeted an apology for his fans saying, "Apologize to all of you. I showed up late. Made a big mistake. I am very very sorry." Aww ... to me that is cute, but Phil Brown didn't see it that way. The Hull City manager was furious as he felt that the reasons for Jozy being left out should have remained private. He said "It's going to cost him a lot of money, unfortunately. That for me is information that stays in house. The reason he wasn't on the bench was our business."
I can understand the manger's concerns as you wouldn't want your players to Tweet indiscriminately, for sometimes they might let out information which your rivals could use against you on the pitch, like injuries to certain players, training ground scuffles etc. However, this tweet seems so harmless and is adorable. I am sure no fan would mind hearing a player from his team admit that he had made a mistake and realizing his responsibility towards the club and the fans. Phil Brown is probably being a little too cautious. Maybe its the technology phobia of the not-so-young and he'd probably have felt more kindly towards the whole incident had Jozy written it in a letter.
Unfortunately for Jozy, he is going to have to part with some serious moolah- the price for tweeting. I fear that this kind of incident might lead to football clubs banning the use of Twitter by players, which would be such a pity 'coz I love Darren Bent's tweets.
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