Over the years, professional footballers have found themselves in trouble for no shortage of silly transgressions, but on-loan Blackpool midfielder (from Norwich City) Jacob Murphy’s recent social media scandal may just take the cake, the frosting and the candles on top.
Murphy, 19, allegedly sent the below photo and caption to someone he knows, via Snapchat, a photo-messaging application that allows users to communicate with others through a series of time-limited photos and videos. Again, the following message was sent by Murphy in private, but somehow ended up leaked to the public and, as expected, sending a great deal of trouble and ire Murphy’s way.Blackpool youngster @JacobMurphy95 (on loan from Norwich) sorry for social media slip. (Blackpool didn’t lose) pic.twitter.com/nqcbapIPOI
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 29, 2014
Blackpool have launched an “investigation” into the matter, which should take all of two seconds to ask Murphy, “Did you send it,” to which he’ll say, “Yes, I did and I’ve already apologized publicly for it.”
The lesson here is “don’t leave a digital footprint of potentially controversial subject matter when conversing with your friends/peers. Murphy is a human being, just like the rest of us, with the need for honest, everyday conversation amongst his friends.
He — and everyone else around — knows that Blackpool are a bad team and likely destined for relegation. When his mother, girlfriend, best friend, etc., ask him “How’s tomorrow’s game going to go,” is he to lie to them, knowing he’s part of an undermanned, overmatched team that’s likely to get battered once again?
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Shame on the person who leaked this photo to a wider audience for, first, causing this embarrassment for the player and the the club, and second, necessitating an apology for something that probably half the players on all the world’s bad teams are guilty of.
The irony? Blackpool didn’t lose their last league game, drawing 1-1 with Rotherham. No word yet on whether or not Murphy is superstitious and will continue sending this particular ‘Snap’ until the side loses.
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