Villas-Boas warns Chelsea players over use of Twitter

Villas-Boas says Twitter should be thought of as a "communication vehicle" Photo: The Sport Review

André Villas-Boas insists he has no problem with Chelsea players using Twitter – but only as a “social tool”.

The Chelsea boss admits he understands why social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, which between them share almost one billion users worldwide, have become so popular.

But the Portuguese tactician has warned his players that posting updates on either site is likely to have the same widespread effect as speaking to the media.

“Twitter and Facebook are social tools and should be used as social tools,” said Villas-Boas. “Everybody has been using it and I see no problem for the players to use it as a social tool.

“But it shouldn’t be used as a tool that inflicts on your professional life. In football, your professional life is not just yours – it belongs to a group of players.

“A couple of guys here use it [but] they know that it has that kind of power. We just think of it as a communication vehicle – it has to be put in the same part as dealing with the media. [But] as a social tool I think it’s pretty excellent.”