Burnley sponsor Ladbrokes sorry for giving ‘poorly conceived’ middle finger to two players
Ladbrokes, a sponsor of English football club Burnley, has breached a new level of ‘banter’ by flipping the bird at two of its footballers on Twitter.
Ladbrokes gives the finger to Burnley FC
Chris Wood and Charlie Taylor both moved to Burnley from Leeds during the summer transfer window and although Wood scored, his former club seized the day on Tuesday evening during the penalty shootout.
Subsequently, the pair were offered the middle finger emoji on Twitter from the official account of the bookmaker, after Burnley were kicked out of the cup 5-3 on penalties.
Although both players were not directly tagged in the tweet, the club sponsor contributed to an atmosphere of animosity towards the players.
Burnley, concerned why its sponsor was directing vitriol towards its players, received the following explanation from the bookmaker: “These were very poorly conceived tweets which we have since deleted. It was only intended to be a bit of fun but failed completely in that regard, and we have apologised to Burnley FC and would like to sincerely apologise to any fans of the club that took offence.”
It’s been a busy week for the bookies on the offence front: Paddy Power offered odds on the late Ugo Ehiogu’s chances of becoming Birmingham City manager and it received a warning from the ASA for its ‘Always Bet On Black’ Floyd Mayweather ad.