Burst Baw: Footballers + blogging = PR nightmare?

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Once upon a time footballers only had minute-long stints on TV and radio during which they could philosophise about their team's performance and how hopefully they'll just take each game as it comes at the end of the day and full credit to the opposition...

But as old Robert Zimmerman once croaked, the times they are a-changing. In 2010 there are a wealth of communicative options available for the professional ball-kicker, and many have embraced their digital freedom of expression with glee.

Think about it:

• They only attend training for a few hours a day so there's plenty of free time to think up bloggable subjects.

• Most of them are paid enough to be able to afford a laptop and broadband connection, while top flight players may even be able to stretch to a smartphone.

• Then there's the naturally inflated ego of the footballer as a species: if they can't shut up on the pitch, why should they remain silent the rest of the time?

Some footballers have taken all this on board and have even wangled high-profile blogs in the mainstream media. In his first post for the BBC, Dundee striker Leigh Griffiths stated his aim is "to give you an insight into life at Dens Park as we try to get back into the Scottish Premier League."

But do we really need insights like this? "Sometimes you can get a bit bored in a flat by yourself but you've just got to deal with it."

For the most part it's the kind of mundane babbling we're used to from post-match interviews, and perhaps that's the reason someone has spoofed it, creating the infinitely more interesting 'Real Leigh Griffiths Blog'. Be warned: it varies between crazed bouts of profanity and passages seemingly copied from a Romantic novel, such as this imaginary scene prior to Jocky Scott's recent sacking:

"When the bus arrived back at Dens the players filed off. Jocky remained seated at the back. I waited for a moment, then asked if he was ok. He didn't look me in the eye. His gaze had drifted out the window. He spoke softly, and replied 'Jocky's fine, pal. Dinnae worry aboot Jocky. Awa' up the road now.' I left feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong."

For the footballer who wants to vent but may have less time on his hands, there's always Twitter. Burst Baw has already lauded some of our favourite Scottish footballers who "tweet, shoot and leave", but on that occasion we didn't mention another spoof: Gary Caldwell, whose fake Twitter account has already attained cult status among those who get all nostalgic about his defensive style at Celtic.

Granted, this satirical master does overstep the mark at times, but sometimes he captures the moment rather well: "I hear Tony Mowbray's giving up the SPL title for lent."

As for the verified 'Tweetballers', who can forget Darren Bent's tirade against Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy while awaiting transfer: ""Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop f****** around levy (sic]."

But even Bent decided that Twitter probably wasn't in his or his club's best interests, so in February he decided to call a halt.

Now there are signs the tide in football has turned against public pontificating. With the big clubs comes big business, and with big business comes big PR companies. The idea of their top stars tapping away at keyboards and iPhones is probably about as appealing to them as hiring Frank McAvennie to be the public face of the RSPB (Burdz, geddit?).

So it was no great surprise when Manchester United imposed a complete ban on all social media for their squad, a cruel blow to Tweetballers Rooney, Fletcher and Giggs, as well as Facebook fans Ferdinand, Brown and Giggs again.

A message on the Man Utd website outlined the new rules: "The club wishes to make it clear that no Manchester United players maintain personal profiles on social networking websites. Fans encountering any web pages purporting to be written by United players should treat them with extreme scepticism."

At Burst Baw we sincerely hope this Stalinist-style censorship doesn't catch on. Footballers are just too insightful to go unheard. At the end of the day.

• Which footballer should start blogging? And what would they write? Let us know below...

Love football? Bit bored? Easily pleased? If the answer to all these questions is 'yes' then you might like Burst Baw, the new football blog from scotsman.com.

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