Former Doncaster Rovers Belles ace named as one of most trolled TV football pundits

The ex-England women’s international, who spent the twilight of her career in Doncaster before hanging up her boots, receives some of the most negative sentiments on social media, a study found.

Research named Garth Crooks as the most unpopular TV football host, followed by Steve McManaman, Karen Carney and Martin Keown.

Sue, who played for Belles between 2011 and 2016, was ranked fifth least popular, tied with Jermaine Jenas.

Last year, she joined the line-up for Sky Sports Soccer Saturday programme, appearing alongside host Jeff Stelling on the station’s flagship Saturday afternoon football show.

Smith, who enjoyed a successful career with England, spent the twilight of her playing days a Doncaster, joining the club in December 2011.

After suffering several injuries she left Doncaster before the 2017 season and although she never announced her retirement from football, she has not played since the end of the 2016 season.

Analysing social media since the opening weekend of the season, the study from BetVictor found that Garth Crooks is far and away the most trolled name on the list, with 90% of posts about the former Spurs striker negative towards him.

Crooks has appeared less and less on our screens over recent season, with Steve McManaman the most trolled regular on our screens, with two thirds of posts about the BT Sport man negative. Karen Carney, who has endured torrid abuse online in recent months, is the third most trolled pundit with 63% negativity.

At the other end of the spectrum, former Everton goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis gains the most praise from fans, with 81% of tweets about her work on TV positive, while Sky Sports favourite Chris Kamara is the second most-loved pundit, earning 80% positivity. Rio Ferdinand completes the top three alongside Micah Richards, who both see 78% of tweets about them positive.

Of tweets that show a particular emotion, Ian Wright brings fans the most joy, with 80% of tweets about the Arsenal legend showing the emotion, while Steve McManaman incites the most anger (47%) and Owen Hargreaves the most surprise (41%).

You can view The Most Talked About Pundits at: https://blog.betvictor.com/campaigns/most-talked-about-pundits/