TikTok Admin Pokes the Hornets Nest With Fiery Social Media Accusations

A Bad Day At The Office - Championship Social Media Admin RAGES At Boss In Public Club Post

We've all had bad days in the office, whether we do white-collar or blue-collar work. On the former, you might leave a ghastly typo in an email or call your boss a parent to their face by accident. In the latter, you could dig according to dimensions that you read upside down or get a bollocking for not cleaning the site up before going home.

It's hard to tell where working in sports media falls on that side of the line, particularly when it comes to the hands-on media work involved with working at a football club. But what would a bad day in the office look like? One would assume accidentally sharing a post on the official club account lambasting your boss and calling him every name under the sun would be pretty far up there.

For whoever was in charge of the socials in Watford last night, that was the true story, as the official Hornets' Instagram account shared a story, albeit only for a few minutes, of a disgruntled employee lashing out at their boss and his poor leadership.

What Did the Post Say?

Well, 'poor leadership' is a ... let's say 'generous' way of putting things. Upon the full-time whistle in Watford's 1-1 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday, the admin clearly hadn't taken the result well, and proceeded to spectacularly take out his frustrations on the Hornet's Communications Chief.

Posted just minutes after the game had wrapped up, the admin wasn't pulling any punches: "Kevin Affleck (Watford FC cokeHead of Communications) is a horrible human being."

This by itself would be grounds for at least a weekly scheduled meeting with HR, but the TikTok admin then went further, making some serious accusations against the man we can only assume is his boss, saying in brackets, "He is also mildly sexist, racist, homophobic and a big bully."

Even posting this on your own private story would result in heightened awareness and an element of virality, but to post it on your football club's own verified TikTok account (which has over 1.4 million followers) is virtually career suicide, as it criticises a current employee, uses terminology that would never be tolerated in a professional environment, and arguably most significantly, shows a complete lack of awareness and technical know-how to post on the wrong social media account.

Who is Kevin Affleck?

Onto the man of the hour then - who is Head of Communications at Watford FC, Kevin Affleck?

Well, it's fair to say that Kevin has a glowing CV - he has had stints at Hayters, UEFA, and A & N Media, and has worked at Watford FC in both a freelance writer and a production/content consultant capacity.

In May of this year, he was appointed as head of communications at the club, likely thanks to the excellent log of contacts he has built up over the course of his well-travelled career - he has worked for both Oman- and Arab-based news outlets.

So, on the surface, his appointment seemed like a sensible one. However, the not-so-subtly leaked rumours of what he is like behind the scenes indicate that all is not plain sailing inside the Watford communications office.

Obviously, we are not placed to comment on whether these claims against Affleck can be substantiated. However, I think it is safe to assume that whoever launched the TikTok post was not doing it for a laugh or a prank. Clearly, Affleck has got under the skin of one of his co-workers, which, whether he intended to or not, has resulted in consequences that have the potential to torpedo his career.