Everything Clubs Have Been Getting Up to on Social Media Since Football's Been Suspended

The coronavirus has thrown everyday life into chaos; universities are cancelling lectures, Match of the Day has been ditched in favour of Mrs Brown's Boys, and Asda's toilet roll aisle has taken a battering.

The epidemic has torn up the sporting calendar, but instead of twiddling their thumbs in the absence of fixtures, social media staff at football clubs have been forced to think outside the box and have really come into their own.

Here's a rundown of the best of the social media action from across the world of football.

Leyton Orient's Mass FIFA Tournament

The League Two outfit have led the way by organising a 128 team FIFA 20 tournament, using the very punny hashtag '#UltimateQuaranTeam' on Twitter.

What began as a proposed 64 team tournament doubled in size due to popular demand, with clubs from across the English football pyramid and beyond all jumping on board.

Premier League champions Manchester City are in, alongside an assortment of Football League sides, Scottish teams Hamilton Academical and Ross County, Melbourne Victory and Central Coast Mariners from Australia, French side Amiens, and the social media kings at AS Roma.

Football Manager

​Watford opted to let Football Manager pick a winner for their postponed Premier League clash with ​Leicester.

In a frantic 90 minutes, Etienne Capoue saw red for an ugly challenge on Dennis Praet​ - absolutely no room for that in the modern game - but Watford secured a hard-fought point thanks to a Roberto Pereyra stunner. 

Plenty for both sides to ponder heading into the season's home straight.

Connect Four

For the more old fashioned among us with little time for the video games that the kids are all playing these days, our needs have been catered for in equal measure.

​Bristol City enjoyed their first foray into Europe with victory over Dutch outfit Willem ll, while ​Aston Villa women made light work of Bayer Leverkusen. The ​Bundesliga outfit fared no better against ​Hull City, who confidently dispatched their German opponents.

Noughts & Crosses

The vintage board games don't stop there, with Southampton keen to get a round of noughts and crosses in against Norwich - the side they were due to meet in the Premier League over the weekend.

But much like ​Liverpool in this season's FA Cup, the Canaries did not see noughts and crosses as high up on their agenda. However, they didn't even have the decency to send Neil Critchley and the teenagers to play out the tie instead.  

​Manchester City stepped into their shoes, perhaps seeing it as an alternative route into Europe for next season, and the two sides played out a stalemate. Last on Match of the Day for sure.

Battleships

If you can't handle the pace and intensity of connect four or noughts and crosses, Polish outfit Górnik Zabrze have got you covered.

The 14-time Ekstraklasa champions have begun taking on on fellow Polish sides in mammoth games of battleships. 

Their defeat against Łódzki Klub Sportowy took four and a half hours to reach its conclusion. Compelling stuff. 

Nostalgia

Many clubs have opted to wind the clocks back to days gone by and dig into the footballing archives.

Some teams have pulled out highlights reels from the glory days; Bolton Wanderers relived their Premier League victory over Liverpool in 2012, and their top flight survival in 2008, while Ipswich Town dug out their League Cup win against Arsenal and antics in Europe, with the past offering both clubs a nice distraction from the present predicaments that they find themselves in.

Oldham meanwhile got fans to vote for their favourite 'forgotten footballer' from the club's past - the rogue players that enjoyed brief spells with the League Two side. French footballer Oumare Tounkara, who played for Oldham on loan from Sunderland between 2010-2012, edged out Dean Windass, who made 11 league appearances for the club in 2011, to be crowned the winner.

Birthdays

In the absence of any news, ​Arsenal decided to really milk the birthday of Theo Walcott, dedicating no fewer than five separate birthday posts to their former forward.

You only turn 31 once.