By David Gold
April 26 – Darron Gibson left Twitter just hours after setting up his account following a variety of abuse aimed in his direction, including some highly personal sectarian comments.
Gibson, who is a Catholic, angered some Northern Irish fans in 2007 when he opted to play for the Republic of Ireland instead of Northern Ireland.
The abuse comes less than a week after Celtic manager Neil Lennon was targeted and sent a parcel bomb, which was intercepted by police.
Gibson set up his account, dgibbo28, yesterday afternoon after he touched down in Germany with the Manchester United squad for their Champions League semi-final first leg with Schalke 04.
Team mate Rio Ferdinand, a prolific Twitter user, confirmed that the account was genuine and encouraged fans to follow the midfielder.
But he was soon the target of sectarian abuse, as well as some highly critical comments about his performances for Manchester United.
Patrick Nelson, chief executive of the Irish Football Association, said that the comments were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate behaviour.”
He said: “I do not condone any negative comments.
“There is no place for this sort of abuse.”
United fans dismayed by the abuse directed at Gibson have begun an appeal to bring the Irishman back to twitter, and defended him from some of the comments aimed in his direction.
And Ferdinand tweeted to insist that his team-mate had quit Twitter because he found it boring.
“He came on to see what the lads were up to…he came off because he couldn’t be bothered with it, not any other reason.”
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