As a preparation for my project, I was assigned to do an annotated bibliography of articles related to my project topic. Of course, it was difficult to find many articles that spoke about football fan culture. Luckily, I found enough to complete and get a good grade on the assignment. One thing that stood out to me in one article was the idea of football fans discussing over chat forums over the internet as a way that football fans from around the world connect. With the birth of social media, chat forums seem to be a thing of the past. Today, we have Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and other various platforms. A lot of teams connect with their supporters through each of these platforms. However, what seems to be the most common way that supporters connect is through Twitter. There are so many supporters that have Twitter accounts that the term “Football Twitter” has been coined to distinguish football supporters from other people on Twitter. Here’s my take on it.

Football Twitter (FT for short) is where fans from all around the world can connect with each other. The following information presents how a normal FT account would be formatted. Your username usually revolves around your favorite club or a player from your club that you want to represent. For example, your handle could be something like thfctoby or VitalVVD. Your avatar is usually either the player you represent or something related to your club, while your header is the same thing. Your display name can be anything that you desire it to be.

Before I go more into what I have observed on FT myself, I would like to share some responses I have gotten from some of my followers have provided in response to the question: what do you see FT as and what are your thoughts on it?

The answers that I was provided sum up basically how I feel about FT. Football fans are able to discuss all of the games, transfers, transfer rumors, and anything that is going on in that moment in time during whatever part of the season it is. It is also full of a lot of banter and memes. This is what I usually enjoy about FT. I like reading a lot of the non-biased opinions. It’s wonderful to see fans of rival clubs acknowledge the talents your club have and admire it. I once tweeted something about what level of ability the players of Man City belong in and a Liverpool fan quoted that it was unfair how much squad depth we have because of how I placed each player. As much as I hate Liverpool, there is no doubt that they have world class players. Simply, I had to respond with that they have one of the best front three’s in the world, the best centreback in the world, and one of the best left-backs, right-backs, and goalkeepers in the world. One of the reasons that the Premier League Title Race has been so close is because of the talent that both teams have. Sometimes, you cannot help but acknowledge the talent. Virgil Van Dijk deserved the PFA Player of the Year, so I acknowledged that. It’s only fair as it is perfectly okay to acknowledge that. To me, it earns respect from fans of other teams when you tweet something like that. It is perfectly normal to see fans from other clubs having civilized conversations on Twitter and getting along. From my personal experience, I have enjoyed talking to a lot of Chelsea fans as well as some of the Chelsea and Arsenal fans. At times, even talking with Manchester United fans have been decent to discuss with.

There is also a side to Football Twitter that consists of memes, banter, and plenty of insults. With rivalries, you expect Twitter to get very angry and mean at times. Sometimes, it is good to have a good laugh about the failures of your rival clubs. To me, what has been funny is how Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, and even Tottenham Hotspur did not seem like they wanted the last two spots for Champions League play next season as all four teams were shaky towards the end of the season. Before the Premier League season ended, I had seen a lot of angry tweets about how the first three teams I have mentioned have no hopes of Champions League football next season. To be fair, all of the Big Six should be playing in Champions League next year, but only four can go, unless either Chelsea or Arsenal get 4th in the league and the other wins the Europa League. It makes me question: why only the top 4? In reality, all 6 should go and Wolves, Leicester, and Everton can have the Europa League. That is something I would like to discuss on FT.

At this point, I have realized how I went on a little bit of a tangent and went off topic, I need to keep discussing the more toxic side of FT. As I was saying, with rivalries come a lot of nasty words. As someone who supports a Premier League team, a lot of the arguments I see are between fans of different Premier League teams. As a Manchester City fan, my timeline throughout the 18/19 season was sometimes filled with a lot of Liverpool-Manchester City related arguments. Sometimes, my mentions can be invaded by Liverpool fans that do not even follow me with some sort of snarky response to a post that I may have posted to make fun of Liverpool for whatever reason.

Traditionally, Liverpool and City have not been rivals. In the past, they were two teams whose fans shared a hatred for Manchester United. However, within the past year, since the 2018 Champions League Quarterfinals, there has seem to be constant turmoil between the two fanbases on social media. While it all may seem like fun and games to many people, it can result in a lot of anger and numerous names on the blocked list. Although both sides may deny that there is a rivalry, it definitely seemed like there was one throughout the 18/19 season. For those who are unfamiliar with FT, you would normally see responses like “obsessed” and “try not to start a rivalry” when one fanbase posts about the other team. Normally, you would see “rent free” as well, but that could apply to a lot of FT. One way or another, you’ll see another version of Allez Allez Allez pop up after one team suffers a big defeat in an important competition. Coming from a City fan’s perspective, it’s nice to see some mutual respect coming in the picture. At the end of the day, there will always be some banter and hate of the other club, but both sets of fanbases have been able to acknowledge how well fought the Premier League title was this season.

Part of FT can be anyone attacking a club, even if that person is not from a rival club. As a City fan, I see a lot of the same stuff regarding my club. You would normally see stuff like: “your club would be nothing without oil money” “your club was established in 2008” “you have no history!” My response is: can’t you all be a little more original? It’s ironic to see on the club’s badge that the club has the year 1894 on it and we won our first major trophy in 1904 which was before any of the top 6 clubs have. It is in the nature of Twitter to be original though. Arsenal and Manchester United are currently labeled as the banter clubs as they have fallen from their grace of the first decade of the 2000s. Liverpool has been made fun of for not winning any Premier League titles as Tottenham is made fun for not winning any trophies. In reality, all of these teams are class in their own rights and for their own reasons, but it is Twitter we are talking about. Twitter was not made to be sunshine and rainbows, especially not Football Twitter.

At the end of the day, Football Twitter is a platform that allows us to share our love of football. Some days, you can be on there forever interacting with other football supporters. Other days, you just need a break from it. Football Twitter: it’s a blessing and a curse for the fan culture.