Crystal Palace midfielder Will Hughes suggests that social media platitudes have never been his style.
The 27-year-old has worked hard to emerge as a huge talent in the sport, and now an established Premier League player.
Hughes took the time to speak about social media and how he has maintained his mentality since breaking through to first team level at a young age.
“There is a certain element, a mindset and a mentality, that plays a big part of being a footballer – no matter what level you are at," he told the Palace website.
“Less than a percent make it as a professional footballer. You have to have a certain mindset for it.
“The team that I broke through in at Derby was a big factor in that. I refer to 'old-school', and they were, under Nigel Clough. If you were messing about you would be told, and that is just how it was. It is quite different nowadays, because you have to be careful with what you say to some players." For full journalistic transparency, the phrase 'messing about' has been subbed in for… well, you can work it out.
“You have to work as hard as you can, that is the bottom line," Hughes added.
“I know it might sound stupid and we think it is the basics, but you know as well as I do in football that, nowadays, not every player works as hard as they can. So that has always got to be the basics, and I am very competitive."
On social media, he stated: “I have to say I'm involved in a sport that I love and an industry that at times I don't like."
“I think football nowadays is becoming… it is everyone with cameras taking videos and not living in the moment.
“The atmosphere at Selhurst is unique – it's a big factor in what we are trying to create. It's proper – that's what I mean by 'proper'.
“I like the tight tunnel, it's an old-school stadium. It creates an atmosphere. A lot of the new stadiums now are for business purposes, so it's not as good." That word 'proper' comes up after we remind Hughes of a tweet in which he refers to Palace as a 'proper' club. It is one of his very rare forays into social media.
“I have a public Twitter but I don't tweet. I just go there to get updated with news and watch the occasional funny video," Hughes says. “I have got a private Instagram. Having a brand is part of being a footballer now, so each to their own, but personally it is not my cup of tea, especially when a lot of what is said on social media by players now is not too authentic.
“As much as some players and managers now don't like it, that is part of the game. It's about branding, the business side of it. Ultimately it's what makes money. It is losing that old-school factor of what it used to be, but we just have to roll with it."
