Coleen Rooney, Wayne Rooney's Wife, Asked Not To Tweet Manchester United News

It has become clear over the last couple of years that plenty of controversy can, and more often than not, will arise from the combination of athletes and social media. Several professional athletes have taken to Twitter to respond to criticism or weigh in on major news stories. Some, like Arian Foster of the Houston Texans, have even used social media to reveal injury news. Undoubtedly, old-school PR mavens at sports clubs around the world fondly recall the days before players had a direct channel to the public. Such seems to be the case with Manchester United and injured striker Wayne Rooney.

After suffering a hamstring injury on Friday, Twitter got Rooney in trouble. Oddly enough, it wasn't his tweet that drew the ire of his employers. Instead, the controversy was caused by his wife, Coleen, who let her 373,835 followers that the couple was watching a Beyonce DVD that night at home. At first glance, this seems an innocuous -- albeit potentially embarrassing -- revelation. But Man U didn't think so because Colleen's tweet, which has been deleted, inadvertently informed the team's Saturday opponent, Stoke City, that her husband would not be playing. After all, if he were in the squad for the next day then he'd have been otherwise occupied.

According to The Guardian, Coleen was politely asked on Sunday not to reveal any team news on Twitter.

Back in May, the star striker also put himself in the spotlight thanks to social media when he didn't respond well to Twitter abuse, losing his cool and threatening a fan. Earlier this summer, Rooney also posted photos of his hair transplant.

Rooney isn't the only Manchester United player to have trouble with social media. Earlier this year, midfielder Darron Gibson deleted his Twitter account a mere two hours after creating it because of abusive comments.

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