This article really struck a chord with me. Read it and see what you think.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/jul/03/it-is-getting-harder-for-footballers-to-survive-the-social-media-abusers

I was on my facebook a couple of days ago, and there was a few seconds footage of Rocky training in the sunshine. I dont know why i looked at the comments, i knew what would be there, which i think says it all. Of the 8 comments 6 were negative and extremely brutal, along the lines of ‘dont know why hes still at hibs’ and ‘ill drive him to anywhere’, you know, hilarious stuff. And they seem to be self identifying as Hibs ‘fans’, if you want to call it that. From what i can see, the post was taken down shortly after, and other posts appeared featuring other players.

Leaving aside the Rocky case specifically, (ive already made thecase that i think his performances have been broadly good with the occasional high profile mistake in key moments, and hes a worthy squad player. Others may disagree, thats fine). But how have we found ourselves in this culture? Whats these peoples motivation ? I get why psychology tells us we respond more urgently to negative stimulus, so negativity gets magnified online by analytics and clicks, but what makes the ‘fans’ do it? Do they want the attention? Are they aware it damages the team? Or is it just bullies, ****, rising to the surface? It’s massively depressing.