George Overhill

Mon 1 May 2023 15:40, UK

Gary Neville reacted to the statement from Leeds United on behalf of the players to dismiss the message as the latest example of “vanilla PR guff”.

The Whites were the latest in a growing trend for club’s to release carefully-worded media messages in response to anger from fans at performances or behaviour after events over the weekend, with Neville responding to post an angry response to them and others.

Leeds United lost 4-1 at Bournemouth on Sunday (30 April) to leave them in major relegation danger, while video surfaced of players leaving the team hotel and ignoring supporters including a young kid in a Whites kit, with a “message from the players” subsequently released via the club’s website on Monday apologising for both.

Reacting on Twitter to the Whites’ statement Sky Sports pundit Neville wrote: “This isn’t a message to Leeds players it’s to all players/teams apologising. No-one is falling for sanitised/vanilla PR guff anymore.

“Speak from the heart and better on video so fans can see your faces.”

Weak

As Neville pointed out Leeds aren’t the only side to do this, with Tottenham doing similarly on 25 April after being thrashed 6-1 at Newcastle, but it is a lame response.

Obviously the answer in all cases would be to not perform so badly on the pitch, and if that is unavoidable at least seem less aloof towards supporters, especially kids, elsewhere.

Of course, not everything is entirely black and white, and the level of outrageous abuse players are subjected to from all angles at the same time, not least when fortunes are bad on the pitch, cannot be ignored, but two wrongs don’t make a right.

Arsenal players were also criticised over a video on the club’s social media channels of players appearing to ignore a mascot, which Mikel Arteta then moved to defend [Mirror, 21 April].

And another video surfaced online in recent weeks showing Manchester United players ignoring fans in a hotel [Daily Mail, 20 April], while there were some suggestions they were in fact autograph scalpers who squads are advised to avoid.

So while it is very easy to react with outrage to online clips without context, the video involving Leeds United players doesn’t suggest an appreciation of a fanbase who are being put through it right now by a massively underperforming team.

And the statement posted on the website gives the impression that the team paid as much attention to that as they did the fans in the hotel.

Top level football long ago stopped being an industry where the players regularly mixed with the supporters, but clubs’ in-houe PR representatives putting out messages pretending the squad cares when there is no evidence for it shows quite how far that divide has grown.

In other Leeds United news, one Whites player was accused of reacting like a “petulant child” at full time of the loss to Bournemouth.