[OldburyWBA]

I don't think Johnstone should be responding to fans on social media to be honest but I guess its hard when some have the agendas they do. Can see why they don't interact with fans much these days, not worth the hassle.

[AlbionFan]

Phil Neville calls for social media boycott to combat racist abuse. Who would blame any footballer who is subject to any form of abuse for closing their account?

[jimmyj]

Sam Johnstone Twitter Account
Should save everything according to some ppl 😴 always positive 🙌🏼

I hardly think the above could conceivably be classed as “giving grief back”

More this reply

Just like u want to pick up on negatives. U don’t rate me that’s fine, some do some don’t. That’s life. Must look so so easy from where u sit which I hope is behind the goal so u can nearly see what I and the team do. Ps, ur boring now. The end 🙂🙂

I'm all for the players having a right to reply myself. This has clearly inebriated Johnstone off, for him to reply in this manner.
 Fwiw I'm quite happy with him. He's not Ben Foster but not many people are. We were spoilt for years with Fozzy. Sam isn't at Fosters level, but very very few are. 

[leeiswba]

This going to be a case of fans slagging off players then get offended when they say something back, it tickles me massively when you seen fans giving it out then proper go off on one when one says something back to him

[TheJacko2000]

This going to be a case of fans slagging off players then get offended when they say something back, it tickles me massively when you seen fans giving it out then proper go off on one when one says something back to him

So far it seems to be more of a case of fans criticising Johnstone then doing u-turn as soon as the man himself gets involved. Sycophants.

[royhan]

When you are constantly in the public eye you stand the risk of being shot down in flames by social media if for some reason you don’t curry favour. If I was a top player I would not be on Facebook, Twitter or any such account.

[sing on our own]

Never understand why people @ someone on twitter, debate is all good but never get personal. Although I dont think he helped himself celebrating Villa getting promoted did he, some players just never become popular.

[leeiswba]

So far it seems to be more of a case of fans criticising Johnstone then doing u-turn as soon as the man himself gets involved. Sycophants.

I don’t. Particularly rate the bloke at all but I won’t be slaying him for the goal last night and I definitely won’t be slaying him for having a pop at fans giving him stick

[leeiswba]

Much prefer him to concentrate on improving than biting back at the fans.

Was 7pm when he replied. what do you want his missus to ping some volleys at him in the back garden?

[wba_1996]

He's a scapegoat now. He's getting blamed for every goal we concede regardless of whether it's his fault or not.

I don't rate him that much, annoys me that he doesn't dive at times, think he is poor at dealing with long shots, but Jesus Christ the criticism is over the top.

[zippyandbungle]

He's a scapegoat now. He's getting blamed for every goal we concede regardless of whether it's his fault or not.

I don't rate him that much, annoys me that he doesn't dive at times, think he is poor at dealing with long shots, but Jesus Christ the criticism is over the top.

No he’s not...re read your post...where’s the positive there in a GK?
From what I’ve seen about the goal last night people are not saying thatbhe(or others) could have saved it....but he didn’t move

[Baggies]

Never understand why people @ someone on twitter, debate is all good but never get personal. Although I dont think he helped himself celebrating Villa getting promoted did he, some players just never become popular.

I don't either, a weird way of doing things, although in this case, I haven't seen any evidence that anyone did message Johnstone directly about last night. Seems that he found out about the tweets some other way (i'm guessing he searched his own name and it came up).

[gazberg]

I don't think he' a scapegoat as such i think more and more people are just losing faith in him regardless of last nights goal.

[17GD]

I'm with Oldbury on this. Why has he bothered replying? Why he's biting and calling fans boring because he doesn't like something they've said is beyond me. All players get stick.

As far as I'm concerned he's a decent GK. However he does have a lot of things he could improve on. And now getting into silly squabbles online is just needless.

[caravanc58]

strikers and goalkeepers always attract the most criticism, any supporter thinking a striker will score every chance that he gets and the keeper never concedes is in for a disappointment.

[baggie82]

His reactions on Twitter are quicker than between the sticks.

[BoingFlyer]

This thread reads like a who's who of snowflakes, can you show me where on the doll the goalkeeper touched you? If someone directly criticises you in public you have every right to give stick back.

[Mister AT]

The bloke who runs that WBA rainbow stand account is abit of loose cannon anyway. Seen him have fall outs with numerous WBA fans and ends up just blocking them.

I questioned him on the Sam Johnstone comments, providing him stats about SJ season last year and when he mentioned about him being better with shots from outside the box, I asked him to provide me with some examples where he thinks it should be saved (taking into account if the defender/midfielder hasn't closed down, i.e Reading goal). Still waiting for his reply 

[OldburyWBA]

This thread reads like a who's who of snowflakes, can you show me where on the doll the goalkeeper touched you? If someone directly criticises you in public you have every right to give stick back.

Bugger all to do with being a snowflake. Yes he has the right to have a go back but he's a professional footballer, why waste his time? theres always going to be someone having a go at him no matter what club he goes to. Is it worth spending so much of your time replying to them all? Once you start doing biting you open yourself up to even more of it, its just pointless.

[boinging_along]

Not sure taking into account closing down is really that useful.  Sure if someone has blasted it into the top corner, but quite often a defender in the way obscures the shot too.  It should be a simple case of "do you think he should have saved that?".  For example, the Forest goal in the first game, he should save that.  It doesn't matter that Bartley didn't close down like he should - it wasn't a rocket into the corner, Johnstone simply didn't move his feet enough.   It was very similar to Butland's first the other night (for Johnstone's the ball is a little bit further away from him) and that was written off as a keeper error immediately. 

[divinewind]

I don't think Johnstone should be responding to fans on social media to be honest but I guess its hard when some have the agendas they do. Can see why they don't interact with fans much these days, not worth the hassle.

I totally agree with this. In the old days the tough managers like Shankly and Clough would never allow it and the players would be disciplined heavily. I don't think Megson would have put up with it.
But the world has changed and now we even have the  President of America tweeting about what he's going to do.
The internet is a wonderful thing but can also be dangerous when you get people without a brain going on it.

[tylerm]

Fans think it’s OK to dish out abuse but it’s not right for the player to respond. Don’t blame Sam for responding and that Rainbow stand bloke has quickly toned down his views. If you dish it out be prepared to take it back. Eric Cantana had the best response

[17GD]

Fans think it’s OK to dish out abuse but it’s not right for the player to respond. Don’t blame Sam for responding and that Rainbow stand bloke has quickly toned down his views. If you dish it out be prepared to take it back. Eric Cantana had the best response

I disagree. Eric had no right to assault someone, it doesn't matter what was said. And it's not about dishing out or taking it back. It's about a professional acting in an unprofessional manner. If someone is being abusive for the sake of it, then he should be ignoring it. But he was criticised and it hit a nerve. Then he goes highlighting fans lack of football skills and leaving a turd emoji. No need.

I used to session drum for a touring band. I got into a dispute after someone was being insulting. After a discussion with the manager, I had to apologise even though I wasn't in the wrong. Was it fair? Not at all. But the band image came before personal image/pride. That side of things comes with being in the spotlight and signing autographs everywhere you go.

[gerry m]

Fans think it’s OK to dish out abuse but it’s not right for the player to respond. Don’t blame Sam for responding and that Rainbow stand bloke has quickly toned down his views. If you dish it out be prepared to take it back. Eric Cantana had the best response

Yes! So easy for these Internet hardmen to hide behind a computer.

[SmethDan]

Having read the thread on tw@tter then for what it's worth I really don't think SJ's taken it to heart. As an aside and to counter the negatives there's a lot of positive comments for him to focus on if he so chooses.