Social media use a problem, says Pool chief

Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre says the use of social media by players is a problem. Reds striker Mario Balotelli was charged on Friday by the FA for an Instagram post.

The 24-year-old reposted an image which appeared to contain anti-Semitic and racist references before apologising.

“Given the choice we’d love to keep all our players away from social media because it really is a problem,” Ayre said.

“I can honestly say there isn’t any more we could do as a club to try to educate our players around this but it still rears its head at least once a season — probably at every club.”

The picture posted by Mario Balotelli on Instagram had been produced by someone else. Balotelli is sidelined with a groin injury and missed Liverpool’s last five games.

“One of the problems that all footballers have had for many a year is they have too much time to kill,” added Ayre.

“I don’t think we have got to the point where we would stop people doing it but we have a very stringent policy all of our players sign. If they step out of line we punish them.”