What Tottenham’s Harry Kane can learn from ‘boring’ Liverpool midfielder

May 3, 2018

He was all over Twitter before he’d even set up an account. Now he’s owning it perfectly.

It was the last international break, just before the start of the Champions League quarter finals, when Liverpool midfielder James Milner finally joined Twitter.

The former England international has always been present, though. “Boring James Milner” is one of the most famous accounts on ‘Football Twitter’ and has been for years. A parody account riffing on the idea that Milner is somehow a particularly boring individual, it gained huge notoriety amongst football fans and the idea simply stuck.

The fact that untrue and potentially damaging ideas stick and become the public image of an undeserving individual is nothing new. The ‘fake news’ scandals over the last few years show that when a concept takes root in the mind, it’s hard to shift. But it’s been happening for years. There are countless examples of sportspeople, politicians and other public figures becoming known for one stand-out thing despite having accomplished much more in their careers. Some things just stick simply because they reinforce what we already think to be true – or at least what they want to be true.

In Milner’s case, he’s a hard-working midfielder. It stands to reason he’d be boring – right?

But since he arrived on Twitter last month he’s been playing up to the galleries, embracing his ‘public image’ and turning what some might see as a negative into a hugely positive point of fun.

Some might find themselves getting upset at being characterised in a negative light on Twitter. You need a particularly thick skin to get over an online bashing. Tottenham and Harry Kane don’t appear to have taken the gentle jibes over the Spurs striker’s penchant for goalscoring particularly well, and a tweet from the official FA Cup account lightly mocking the England man’s anonymous performance in the semi final of the competition was the subject of much debate.

In the end, whatever you think of the rights and the wrongs of the furore – whether you think this is all harmless fun or whether you think it verges on bullying – there’s a compelling argument to be made as to why Kane should really be learning from his former England teammate Milner.

People don’t really think James Milner is boring. They just don’t.

They like to internalise the idea that he’s boring, but until they’ve met him, spent some time with him, had a beer with him, how could they possibly make a character judgement about an individual? Deep down, people know that. But there’s a joke to be had and it fits so people are always going to make it – it might be harsh, but it’s human nature.

Milner seems to understand that. It might have been vexing at first to be cast that way after having done nothing but work hard in midfield to help his team. But having made his peace with it, he’s embracing it on Twitter with spectacular results. Now everybody loves James Milner.

The other upshot of all of this for Milner is that it has all tipped over 180 degrees. People have realised that not only isn’t he boring, but he is in fact a truly funny individual.

Initially using his platform to make fun of himself, Milner was able to get his followers to laugh with him. Over the last few weeks, he’s been a breath of fresh air – cracking jokes left, right, and centre and putting himself up there with Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy as one of football’s most entertaining players on social media.

He’s an example of how footballers – and sportspeople of all kinds – should use their social media platforms to show off their personalities (both real ones and those imagined by the public). Instead of the truly ‘three points today, fans were great’ tweets, some self-awareness and a few jokes go a long way.

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

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