Georgia Stanway: Man City boss says player 'OK' after social media abuse

  • By Emma Sanders
  • BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Georgia Stanway was sent off three minutes before Manchester City took a 1-0 lead

Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor says midfielder Georgia Stanway is "OK" after suffering social media abuse following her red card in the Women's Super League derby.

Stanway, 22, was shown a straight red card for a poor tackle on Manchester United's Leah Galton in the 2-2 draw.

The England international said on Twitter she found herself "subjected to abusive messages" afterwards.

"She was bright in training and had a smile on her face," said Taylor.

"Nobody wants any person to be in that situation. Unfortunately that seems to be the nature of social media at the moment. People are always quick to judge.

"I think it's more prevalent in young footballers these days as everybody has a social media account. If you want to find bad news, it's not hard to find on there. There is a lot of negativity.

"People who judge need to walk in those person's shoes first before making remarks. They seem to be silent warriors who sit behind a laptop or a phone and just send messages as and when. It affects people.

"We value these players as people first and foremost and we try to support them as best we can."

Stanway has been included in the England squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Latvia.

England manager Sarina Wiegman said she will speak with Stanway and there will be a discussion on how social media abuse during the international camp.

Wiegman added: "On social media, there is sometimes a chance to get messages out and sometimes you get reactions that make you think: 'Why do people react this way?'

"It is so disappointing that people do that. I haven't spoke to her yet but I hope she's fine. She's a good woman. She needs to stick with the people around her.

"It's something we have to be aware of and we are. We speak to players about it. This is one of the themes that we will speak about with our group."

Stanway will join up with the England squad at St George's Park on Sunday after Manchester City host Everton in Wednesday's League Cup group game (19:00 BST).