An England international footballer has blocked a regional daily’s football writer from following him on Twitter.
James Pearce, Liverpool FC reporter at the Liverpool Echo, found himself barred from reading Raheem Sterling’s updates on the social media site on Friday.
Sterling moved from Liverpool FC to Manchester City last month for a fee of £49m after rejecting a new contract offer.
Ahead of the move, James criticised the striker for delivering a “slap in the face” to the Merseyside club.
The 20-year-old rejected the offer of a contract extension at Liverpool with his agent Aidy Ward insisting his client wouldn’t sign a new deal even if offered “£900,000 a week”.
James revealed the ban in a tweet pictured below, joking: “Adie (sic) Ward has been busy doing some admin.”
James had previously written an opinion piece in May questioning Sterling’s worth to Liverpool, which was picked up on by the club’s former manager, current England boss Roy Hodgson.
Hodgson subsequently took a veiled swipe at “the local press in Liverpool” during his post-match press conference after England drew 0-0 with the Republic of Ireland in June.
Sterling was substituted after 66 minutes of the match, and Hodgson suggested “criticism” of the player in the Echo had affected his form.
James has yet to respond to HTFP’s request for a further comment on the matter.
The Twitter ban comes after a summer of disputes between football clubs and the regional press, which has seen industry figures call for the Football Association to outlaw the practice of clubs barring media organisations.
Teams involved in disuptes with the regional press include Blackpool, Newcastle United and Swindon Town.
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i can understand why this would be a bit annoying, but hardly going to mean James can’t read sterling’s tweets. One minute to set up new account, follow and job done.
Inanity, selfies and holidays in the sun are his to behold once again.
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So what? Big deal.
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The only reason Hodgson was sore about his treatment by the local press is because he was an abject failure and he was pulled up on that fact.
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Nice to see silly season has arrived in true fashion. This is not a story.
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this is hardly news guys,sorry
footballers and celebs often block people ,its just how it is
i can only think the journalist in question sees it as some sort of badge of honour
nothing to see here, next!
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Hmm.
‘Gobby Liverpool FC reporter gets deserved ‘block’ by Manchester City player’.
And …?
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heavens. things are worse than we imagined. Hope this reporter gets counselling. Don’t let him face this alone.
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Pearce is a really good writer, as were Barrett and Bascombe before them, LFC is the Echo’s bread and butter and they don’t throw duds in there, I don’t think Pearce will be bothered in the slightest, probably amused.
Sterling, on the other hand, well – make your mind up yourself about that lad. 18 months of half decent football and you want a move after rejecting a mere 100k a week. His off field exploits are well documented too.
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Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……………………………
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I agree with all the ‘so what’s’ about the story, but it’ll get a few clicks on the Liverpool Echo website and that’s what it’s all about.
Mark, if I was 20 again, I’d be doing stupid things away from work. Who hasn’t? And being offered either £100k a week or £180k a week after one good season, I know where I’d be off to.
Sterling is not from Liverpool and he’s not come through the full youth ranks so he doesn’t really ‘owe’ the club anything. It’s just business!
And Liverpool can hardly call him on it when his arguable replacement, Roberto Firmino, has been signed on a similar basis from Hoffenheim. Okay, it’s not to a major rival but the money aspect is a key factor in him leaving his former club!
Liverpool fans are only sore because they couldn’t afford £180k a week or promise Champions League football. Simple as that!
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#sillyseason #shockhorror
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Craig, I don’t think most Liverpool fans are bothered, we’ve lost bigger and better players in recent years, and the money the club picked up was an absolute steal.
People aren’t happy with the way he behaved because it was unprofessional, simple as. At no point did he even put in a transfer request, he simply organised off the books interviews himself, refused to travel and refused to play – I don’t care how much money someone gets for a living, that’s unaccesptable.
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Mark, that’s not Sterling’s fault, that’s agents for you! The FA needs to find ways to hang players out to dry when contracts are breached, without affecting the clubs too much.
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Cant imagine that his ‘tweets’ might contain anything that would interest anyone with an ounce of intelligence anyway!
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On the basis that most footballers can’t string a sentence together, I’m sure Mr Pearce won’t feel he’s missing out too much…
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