Great read.
I think Tom is refreshing tbh, as are a lot of the younger generation of players who are not afraid to be 'different', or express themselves. Marcus Rashford is an extreme end of that phenomenon. I'm personally bored of whitewash media trained football and I don't know why people get so abusive based on what someone is like outside of football, it's not like anyone's out there killing cats. They are just professionals at the end of the day.
A year ago I thought Tom Davies had gone Bad Davies and was running out of options as a footballer. A year later, and some very astute management - simplifying his game in the 6 - has suddenly turned him into a tasty looking player, bringing out his best qualities. He is only 22.
Through a long lense, this is completely natural, and actually happens in football all the time. Yet some people can get very vitriolic when a player is out of form. I've done so in the past myself. I guess that's the curse of being the fan.
But there is still no excuse for abuse, or being threatening and or aggressive. I don't know if people are especially angry at the moment in society or whether social media just get's people hysterical but either way the current abuse of players, the racism, the death threats, is just not on. I'm done with most social media and wouldn't go near Twitter with a barge pole, because it just brings people to the boil. At the same time social media allows some footballers to show people that it's ok to be different. For the younger generation maybe social media showed them that.
Aside from the regulation of free speech on the internet, I would just like to apologise to the heelkicking holding midfielder for referring to him as 'Bad Davies' for the last year and a half. Now he can be Notbad Davies.
