BLACKBURN Rovers players have been warned about the dangers of tweeting – with the club ready to fine them for misuse of the social networking tool.

Several of Michael Appleton’s squad are on twitter, including Colin Kazim-Richards, Bradley Orr, David Goodwillie, DJ Campbell and Adam Henley, but all have been told their tweeting will be monitored.

Rovers players have been told they face a sizeable fine, understood to be in the region of £1,000, for any “derogatory tweets” about the club or comments about Rovers that could be misconstrued.

In a fortnight that has seen West Brom’s Peter Odemwingie land himself in trouble for a series of tweets about the Baggies, Appleton has confirmed he has strict guidelines for the players to follow.

He said: “I have had a rule like that at every club I have been at.

“It is not about people using twitter, but if it is a derogatory mark towards the football club or about the football club they will be fined.

“If they want to talk about what they have had for breakfast then I haven’t got a problem with that but if they say something derogatory about the club then I might have a problem with it.

“I have used it at every club I have been at so it isn’t new to me.”

Appleton acknowledges that the social networking site can cause unecessary problems for players but believes his squad is smart enough to understand the situation.

“Of course twitter can be a problem,” the Rovers boss added. “Sometimes people say things in the heat of the moment instead of keeping it to themselves.

“They tell the world about it even though they don’t mean to and then it is out there. Comments can be made about one thing and misconstrued.

“The players know and so far so good, they have been as good as gold and they have stuck to all the discipline things.”