Twitter works great in Brazil. So great that it gets you fired! Former Real Madrid manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo was sacked by Palmeiras, in São Paulo, Brazil, over what he wrote on Twitter [Portuguese] two days ago. Is this the first time a professional sports coach/manager has been sacked because of what he has written on Twitter? I couldn’t find any other examples, but I could well be wrong here.
Anyway, the story is pretty interesting, especially to those of us who follow football. Luxemburgo, who won the São Paulo State Championship with Palmeiras this past season (and who won with Santos the year before), posted to Twitter that he was dissatisfied with the way one of his players, Keirrison, had handled his apparent negotiation with FC Barcelona, which he is all but certain to join in the next few days. Tweeted Mr. Luxemburgo: “Keirrison didn’t show up to training. He also didn’t give me any explanation. If he isn’t sold [to FC Barcelona] he won’t play for me again.” (Yes, I translated that myself. Thanks, college!)
Luxemburgo was sacked by Palmeiras shortly thereafter, which he also tweeted: “I’m no longer the manager of Palmeiras. I was sacked because of disagreeing with Keirrison’s attitudes. Read about it on my blog: [l]uxemburgo.blog.uol.com.br.”
Perhaps Twitter should have what Gmail has, an “are you sure you want to tweet this?” feature?
In any event: don’t use Twitter to air dirty laundry.
UPDATE As Fernando corrected me, “Cotinthians won the São Paulo State Championship in 2009, Palmeiras won in 2008.” Yes, I feel like a dope, but I’m pretty sure only Fernando would have known that fact. I can’t imagine we’re too big in Brazil.