Rovers will join all EFL and Premier League clubs, as well as a growing number of organisations, in boycotting social media from 3pm tomorrow afternoon until 11.59pm on Monday.

The four-day boycott will coincide with this weekend’s trip to Rotherham United, a stance taken in a bid to clampdown on the abuse and hatred posted on social media platforms. It is hoped that it will force the social media companies to put stricter protocols in place to clampdown on issues which have been highlighted throughout the season.

Tony Mowbray doesn’t profess to be au fait with the world of social media, and wonders what impact will come of the boycott, as well as questioning how nothing has been done before to stamp it out.

He said: “My logic is thinking that if the football world, and others sports, are coming off social media for four days, what impact is it going to have, what are we trying to achieve?

“That might be naïve, but that’s what my mind is thinking. Four days, I’m not sure it’s going to have a huge impact, I’d like to think it does because it’s unacceptable.

“How are people able to write these vitriolic, hateful or racist things on social media without any repercussions?

“I’m sure it can be addressed, people should be accountable for what they write or say. In most walks of life you’re accountable for what you say and do, but it doesn’t seem that’s applied to social media where you can say or write what you want.

“You can get banned but then set up another account and keep going. I don’t understand why the governing bodies who are so politically correct on everything haven’t jumped all over it and here we are with a gesture of trying to put it right.

“I’m not sure, maybe it’s ignorance because I don’t understand, but why haven’t governing bodies jumped on it?

“It’s unacceptable and shouldn’t happen, so stop it somehow with the power that certain people have.”

A number of the Rovers players have social media accounts, while the club runs pages across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram which will all go silent for the next four days.

Mowbray says none of his players have ever approached him with concerns over issues faced on social media, but says there has to be an element of trust with their lives away from the club.

“I talk to my players on a daily basis. I don’t know how they live, I don’t follow them around, I try and set parameters and guidelines, but you have to trust them,” the manager added. “I think the majority of the world are self-taught. That’s how I live my life, I self-manage myself through my human values and qualities and I expect my players to try and do that.

“Does it affect them? I see some players in training some days and I think ‘what’s wrong with him today?’

“For all I know, it could be something that he’s just read when he’s come out of his car and he’s read something that’s upset him.

“I don’t know, no footballer has ever come to me and said that they’re having real trouble on social media, they keep it in I suppose and it’s how they deal with it.

“I don’t see it, I don’t listen to it, I self-manage myself, I self-manage my family and this football club with my values and integrity and honesty, hard work, and hopefully it comes through and these footballers understand what’s acceptable and what’s not.

“I don’t look at their social media, my head of media will tell me if there’s something drastic and if there is then I’ll try and address it.”