Fired-up Sydney FC coach Frank Farina has hit back at trolls who he says have hurled "mistruths, abuse and personal insults" at him and his struggling A-League team.
Farina, in his first personal blog entry in more than four months, said he had spent some time thinking about "the new player in the game" - social media.
"As I've said many times before, I don't mind if people have a different opinion or question mine. Many people do," the former Socceroos coach wrote.
"But I do have a question for the small group of people - who mostly hide behind fake names or no name - who hurl mistruths, abuse and personal insults at me, some of the staff and the players. Are you really real football fans?
"The campaign for #FarinaOut, the uninformed and inaccurate speculation about injuries, the constant hectoring about drinking - you need to know that they're water off a duck's back."
Farina said a real football fan supported their team through thick and thin, alluding to criticism lobbed at Sky Blues over their form in the opening weeks of their 2013/2014 A-League campaign ahead of Saturday's home clash with fellow glamour club Melbourne Victory.
"A real football fan, when faced with 1 win & 3 losses for the start of the season, is asking what they can do to help get the team on track.
"A real football fan doesn't write an expletive-laden message about not going to the game on the weekend, but realises this is the time more than ever that they're needed at home against their biggest traditional rival.
"I know this because I've done nothing else except work in football since I was 17. I've seen and met real football fans in Australia and all over the world."
He promised there was not one player nor member of Sydney's coaching staff who wasn't striving to do their best week-in week-out.
"Sydney till you die? Terrific. Prove it," he Farina wrote, pointing to Saturday's clash at Allianz Stadium.
"See you there - in full sky blue-blooded support to prove that #SydneyIsSkyBlue."
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