PFA to set up Facebook fan pages for players?

Football is in a fascinating position when it comes to the changing world of news consumption, media and social media. Our clubs are rare brands in that they have a ready-made army of evangelists to engage online (that's us), the ultimate goal of many brands in the social media space. Few other brands can claim to have this, save for the Apples and Coca-Colas of this world.

With both tools and culture developing in such a way that "celebrities" - players, in our case - can now choose to talk directly with supporters online, often in an open and honest manner.

And yet the clubs, despite their favourable opportunity and the clear benefits of keeping supporters onside and engaged, are primarily concerned with keeping everything vigorously on-message and preventing scandal. It makes sense, I suppose, but they're far too militant and reactionary.

In their defence, social media so far has been a bit of a troublesome foe for a handful of clubs.

Hull City striker Jozy Altidore had his wrist slapped in October for revealing via Twitter that he had been dropped from the side for arriving late for a match. Darren Bent's infamous Twitter rant led to Tottenham Hotspur imposing a ridulously prohibitive social media policy. Manchester United have now gone one better/worse.

In a bid to tackle multiple concerns, such as the proliferation of fake player pages, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) has revealed plans to set up an official, verified Facebook page for every professional footballer in the country. The stated objectives are to enable players to have a social media presence and help them avoid the possible pitfalls, presumably including potential damage done by imposters.

However, there are a couple of holes here. Firstly, where does this approach sit with Manchester United's wishes? Both parties want to protect players, but United's social media ban smacks of leak prevention. If that's the case, the two parties may clash on the social media issue.

Secondly, do the players with established footprints online really want to be reined in by the PFA? I can't imagine Bent or Altidore giving up Twitter, so is there really any point? It'll be a very interesting one to follow, that's for sure.

But my all-time favourite footballer's social media cock-up was committed by Ashley-Paul Robinson, then a Crystal Palace winger with designs on a move to Premier League Fulham. He revealed this fact - in a manner of speaking - and it all went off.

Not sure any PFA involvement would've stopped that spectacular piece of digital idiocy.