By 
Following Aston Villa’s defeat to Stoke City in the Carabao Cup, the two players have left Twitter following fan vitriol.
Words: Regan Foy | @findfoy
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Aston Villa players Anwar El Ghazi and Henri Lansbury have deactivated their Twitter accounts following backlash from fans following the side’s defeat to Stoke City in the Carabao Cup.
There have been points in the past when Aston Villa players have been abused on social media, but they generally don’t react in such an obvious, and telling way.
Players are people, and like many of us, struggle with mental health issues surrounding performances and things outside of the game.
“El Ghazi makes me sick,” wrote one fan.
“Anwar is painful to watch,” wrote another.
A number of people also wrote messages along the lines of ‘get out of our club’.
A popular Twitter account, who we will not name, joked about Aston Villa agreeing a “mutual termination of contract” with Henri Lansbury, whilst others referred to the player as a ‘slug’ and stated that they ‘hated him’.
Whilst Twitter has had positives on the sports industry, it has also provided negative aspects – specifically with sport starts and psychological impacts. Whilst others have used the platform to grow their profile, some have had their careers and mental wellbeing impacted.
In other sport, diver Tom Daley and Tennis prodigy Rebecca Marino have previously admitted to struggling with depression related to abuse received on social media – whilst in football, Cameroonian Joseph Minala deleted his social accounts after Twitter frenzied into an abuse pool of questions surrounding his age and appearance.
Whilst clubs look to protect their players, and warn them of the potential negative power of social media, some times it is not enough – and abuse of our players is proof of that.
Thankfully, Anwar and Henri have deactivated so that they don’t have to receive abuse any more. But it should not have been the case in the first place.
