(Photo: Action Images via Reuters)
Social media is a very modern concern for football managers, but a concern nonetheless. And when a team is going through a rough run of form, it can be best for player’s and manager’s alike to avoid it altogether.
This message of moderation in regards to Twitter, Instagram and the like, is what Plymouth Argyle boss Derek Adams has been preaching amidst their tricky start to life back in League One.
Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat at home to Blackpool left the Pilgrims second bottom of the table, having collected just four points from their opening seven league games – only winless Gillingham have a worst record so far.
The 42-year-old has been keen to impress upon his players the importance of avoiding any unnecessary criticism amid this poor run of form: “I think you have got to be there for them, and keep driving the bus so to speak,” he said.
“We try to keep them focused. That’s why we try to keep the outside influences away from them. It’s really the outside influences that affect people, and in the modern era it is very difficult with social media the way it has gone and everybody needing a story.
“We try to keep these things away from them as best as we can, just to keep them in a positive frame of mind.”
However, Adams stressed that he wouldn’t order his players to stay off social media completely: “We can only tell them not to, but in this society it’s not going to happen.
“The smart phone has taken over the world. It’s only 10 years old and Apple is the biggest company in the world.
“People, the majority of the time, are allowed to hide behind a keyboard. They have names that are not their own and that’s just the nature of the world as it is.”
Another possible solution for Adams and his players would be to start winning a few matches, something they will endeavour to do when they travel to Gigg Lane to face Bury this weekend.
