Huddersfield Town head coach Martin Drury explains why he has come off social media

Certainly in comparison to the previous two seasons in League One when there was a fair amount of toxicity when discussing on-pitch developments at the club.

In fairness, it's hardly an issue unique to Town, far from it. It happens to every club going through times when results go awry and expectations are not being met.

Town head coach Martin Drury used to post on social media platform 'X' - formerly known as Twitter - and regularly embraced interaction with fans during his coaching career.

In early August, he took the decision to come off his account.

For a young head coach, avoiding distractions—both good and bad—could well prove to be a very shrewd move.

Drury, preparing for Saturday' derby against former club Bradford City at Valley Parade, said: "It's really difficult to never hear or see any of it because of the world that we live in.

"I took a decision to come off social media after the Preston game, which was a shame because I was always on Twitter when I was at Manchester United, West Brom and Valencia.

"I found it a really good way to stay connected to the world of football and stay updated and informed on things.

"And being at all those football clubs - really big clubs with massive expectation - I found Twitter in particular to be a really good way to connect with supporters. It was something that I very much enjoyed doing."

Since stepping up, Drury has made a big play of blanking out the outside noise at Town and concentrating on internal expectations rather than external ones.

Coming off 'X' was always going to be a natural by-product of that, with the 40-year-old focused on what he can control in his work while not wasting energy on other things amid the desire to remain level-headed and process-driven.

Drury, who will again be without suspended captain Ryan Ledson for Saturday's derby - he serves the second game of a three-match ban - added: "I think in football, sometimes you get a bit of praise and criticism.

"And I think if you're not equipped to deal with criticism, it can suffocate you.

"I've always tried my best to use any criticism as a real motivation, which probably sounds a little bit 'sick', but I quite enjoyed using it to motivate me.

"But at the same time, I think if you're governed by it too much and you're obsessed with reading and seeing it (social media), then it's very difficult to have some emotional control because one minute you're the best player or best coach in the world and the next minute you're absolutely useless.

"It's not something that I take too much notice of these days. So I try and block it out.

"Everyone's got an opinion in football and it's the best and worst thing about the game. So people can talk outside and I'll try and stay clear of it."