The 'memefication' of footballers

[WeePat]

Yes.
Werner is the biggest meme out there. Lukaku is another one.
Kante is also a meme material.

Pep is the arguably the biggest meme material out there after Harry.

But Pep and Kante aren't memed for their performance but their certain moments.

Liverpool players, Karius was one. But they are a bunch of boring stale personalities. So yeah the biggest meme material they have is Jurgen himself.

Kante gets straight up patronised online. People see a picture of him shaking someone's hand or just smiling and there'll be endless tweets about what an adorable guy he is, 'protect this man at all costs, what a national treasure'. He's treated like a fecking child and I fecking hate the discourse around him on the internet. Like that story about Nzonzi saying he had to force France teammates to allow him to hold the world cup trophy so he could have pictures taken because he was too shy to ask for it himself. That story may be true but it went viral and this idea people had of him intensified.

Its not the same as Maguire but he's get meme'd in a different way.

 

[manutddjw]

Beckham was never shown anything but unconditional love from Manchester United fans, on or off the pitch. The situations then and now aren’t comparable.

yes they are comparable. Yes we showed Becks love, but 19 other away grounds didn’t and it transcended to his wife and kids.

 

[Ollie Derbyshire]

Any player who gets affected by criticism on social media should just get off social media, they don’t have to go on it, their family doesn’t have to go on it either. Unfortunately it’s a part of life that haters will always target people on these platforms. I’ve never joined any of them and never will.

Players have 4 options really, 1) Don’t go on these platforms. 2) Ignore it and be mentally strong. 3) Play better so they have less to have a go at. 4) Move to a club more at your level so they ignore you.

None are ideal but you have to either get on with it or take yourself out of it cause it‘s not going anywhere.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Yes. Plus Beckham was shown nothing but love from United fans. Which obviously made a huge difference.

Not true. There were plenty of United fans that complained that Beckham worked harder for England than he did for United. He was also often criticised for his celebrity lifestyle and for being under the thumb of Victoria (Fergie played a part in this). He definitely had his detractors. If you're talking about match going fans then the support was mostly there but that's true today too. It would be interesting to see how the social media age would've treated Beckham, if such a thing were possible.

 

[Lord SInister]

Kante gets straight up patronised online. People see a picture of him shaking someone's hand or just smiling and there'll be endless tweets about what an adorable guy he is, 'protect this man at all costs, what a national treasure'. He's treated like a fecking child and I fecking hate the discourse around him on the internet. Like that story about Nzonzi saying he had to force France teammates to allow him to hold the world cup trophy so he could have pictures taken because he was too shy to ask for it himself. That story may be true but it went viral and this idea people had of him intensified.

Its not the same as Maguire but he's get meme'd in a different way.

Kante is positive meme, same with Pep and Ibra. Negative memes are Werner, all prison FC footballers, Lukaku and so on.

Kante is a loveable guy though, can't hate him even if he plays for the Chelski knuts.

 

[Abraxas]

It's a good point. I would probably not engage with social media if I was a footballer. If I did, I would have no personal input and I'd ask not to hear anything back from it. Most of the time it's such a negative environment that if I can get the benefits without having to do it personally, I'd call that a win.

We wonder about these robotic footballers we've created and the PR driven outputs but maybe part of the reason why is that showing any kind of personality or deviation, or flaw in your performance opens you up to hordes of idiots piling in relentlessly and directly. Whereas back in the day, sure we'd have armchair experts piling in, but mostly in the pub.

Players should be open to constructive criticism. They receive incredible benefits and opportunities. But there is a balance, and I don't think social media culture or even some media narratives strike it.

 

[JeffFromHK]

Its good to see you think people on high wages and being a celebrities are immune to mental health and bullying. The rest is just excusing you feeling you're/others are entitled to insult people.
If you can't see the difference between legit criticism and the crappy pictures you posted, I feel sorry.

I didn't call you shit, I called your post shit. Its an easy distinction to make and within the forum rules. You should grow up.

you have poor reading skills. Please quote where have I ever said "being a celebrities are immune to mental health and bullying"? "We are entitled to insult people"?

By the way, you still have not given any responses to cartoonization of politicians. Are they "immune to mental health and bullying""? Do you mean we should stop those comics and satires on politicians we have been doing for centuries?

 

[Solius]

Any player who gets affected by criticism on social media should just get off social media, they don’t have to go on it, their family doesn’t have to go on it either. Unfortunately it’s a part of life that haters will always target people on these platforms. I’ve never joined any of them and never will.

Players have 4 options really, 1) Don’t go on these platforms. 2) Ignore it and be mentally strong. 3) Play better so they have less to have a go at. 4) Move to a club more at your level so they ignore you.

None are ideal but you have to either get on with it or take yourself out of it cause it‘s not going anywhere.

Can you really even avoid it if you’re not in it? People talk and it spreads. There is a general feeling in the air. Others might mention things to you. It’s not that simple.

 

[Ollie Derbyshire]

Can you really even avoid it if you’re not in it? People talk and it spreads. There is a general feeling in the air. Others might mention things to you. It’s not that simple.

Obviously you’ll hear things but you could do something to reduce the impact if you really wanted. Unfortunately in today’s world you just have to get on with it, nothing is going to change.

 

[kthanksbye]

Whoever runs the Utd twitter is possibly the worst person in the world at reading a room.

Remember reading it's the same guy who used to run the troll football page on Facebook back in the day.
The posts are intentionally tone deaf, because the priority is engagement.