Twitter is the perfect platform for making yourself look a Wally

Wally Downes in Dresden earlier this week

In February 1945, with Germany all but defeated and just weeks away from surrender, British and American bombers embarked on a revenge attack on Dresden, a town that held no strategic value. In the words of Andrew Marr in The Making of Modern Britain, Bomber Harris and friends "returned again and again with massive fleets, creating a firestorm in Germany's seventh largest town ... burning or blowing to pieces up to 100,000 people".

Even if you do share the less sympathetic views of the right-wing historian Max Hastings who in All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945 argues that this huge loss of civilian life was "a price they had to pay for the horrors they unleashed upon Western civilization", to actually take pride in this slaughter of innocent women and children is quite another thing.

It was, therefore, with some disappointment this week that I read a rather tasteless tweet from first team coach, Wally Downes, who is currently in Dresden on a preason tour with the rest of the West Ham squad. While Matt Taylor and Gary O'Neil used the medium of Twitter to communicate their enjoyment at being in one of Germany's most beautiful towns, Wally talked of his "air of superiority after the glorious but necessary 2 victories against facishm [sic]". I won't bother to retype the hashtag.

Given that Wally cannot even spell fascism, I doubt that his views on WWII are informed by any extensive research of the subject, so deconstructing his tweet seems about as worthwhile as trying to persuade a Daily Mail reader of the benefits of immigration.

The beauty of Twitter is that you can unfollow anyone at anytime and spare yourself the self-imposed task of being offended by their views. Don’t like someone? Then don’t follow them. But what a pity that someone who plays such a prominent role in our great club, and who has so much genuine and relevant experience to share, chooses instead to write incoherent nonsense about a country whose inhabitants will – based on my experience of Germany – be acting as the perfect hosts to him and his colleagues.

Sam Allardyce and players meet the Mayor of Dresden Dirk Hilbert in Germany on Wednesday

On Tuesday, the Premier League issued new guidelines on the use of social media. It appears to focus predominantly on issues like endorsement of brands and disclosing team selection. Perhaps it is taken for granted that most players and coaching staff are sensible enough to recognise that certain subjects are off limits.

At the very least, these guidelines are a necessary reminder that whether they like it or not, anyone involved in Premier League football is an ambassador for their club. Wally Downes has 3,000 followers because he is the coach of West Ham, not because people want to hear his views on fascism. Wally is entitled to whatever opinions he likes, but Twitter is not the platform to air them.

Follow Love In The Time Of Collison @OnWestHam