Willian’s post-FA Cup Instagram post should have ended his Chelsea career. It still might, but not before he collects an approving shout from the FA Cup team for #WorldEmojiDay.
No one this side of David Luiz thought Willian was being at all clever or subtle in covering up Antonio Conte with three trophy emojis in a picture of Chelsea celebrating their FA Cup title in May. Whether you agreed with the sentiment or not, Willian’s intent was pretty clear. And except for those at the extreme edge of the anti-Conte brigade, people thought it was at least inappropriate, if not unprofessional.
The people who run the FA Cup’s official twitter account, then, are either quite dense or every bit as unprofessional. They posted Willian’s picture to give it “Our #WorldEmojiDay Award for Creativity.”
Just like with Willian’s post, there is no generous interpretation available to the FA’s digital team. Best case – i.e., non-malicious – scenario: they have no knowledge of one of the biggest storylines in English football of the last year. They completely missed the biggest non-World Cup story of the last week, capping off a year of cluelessness about everything taking place at one of England’s richest, most powerful and most successful clubs.
On the other hand, maybe they think it’s funny how a player openly and childishly disrespected his coach. Not only that, he used the occasion of the FA Cup itself as a platform for his strop. Rather than thinking “Willian, don’t drag us into your dramas,” the FA Cup signed off on it and piled on.
The FA Cup is sending quite a message with their silly award. Much like Chelsea, they back the players over the managers. The players can get away with anything, while managers are disposable targets for mockery. Not only will the governing institutions not back you, they’ll dunk on you. Players, managers and young players will hear this message loud and clear.
Chelsea started and ended the season with social media gaffes. Unfortunately for Willian’s teammate and countryman, there will be no rehabilitation for Kenedy. Kenedy made the mistake of offending the most important emerging market for the team, the league and the sport. Fortunately for Willian, there’s no such constituency pressuring the players to show their managers any respect.
Next: Impossible to put a number on Olivier Giroud and N'Golo Kante
On the subject of respect, as a bonus coda to this incident, the page for the FA’s #RESPECT campaign shows a 404 error message. Sounds about right.
UPDATE: The FA Cup’s official account deleted the tweet in question some time between 1600 – 1700 BST. If anyone asks, sure, we’ll take credit for it.