Rio Ferdinand was one of the first footballers on Twitter, so really he should have known what would happen when he asked his followers a question in the wake of Michael Laudrup's dismissal as Swansea City manager:

Managerial merry go round looks on the cards again....who next after Laudrup are we thinking??

— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) February 5, 2014

The comment almost doesn't need a punchline, but with his current team lying seventh in the Premier League table and performing well below the level of previous seasons, there was no shortage of fans waiting to finish it off for him. Here's one of many:

@rioferdy5 Moyes

— Ryan 'RossiHD' Ross (@ROS5IHD) February 5, 2014

But did Rio know exactly what he was doing by putting the question out there? There were people who thought his original tweet was leading:

@rioferdy5 You know full well what folk are going to say, you big stirrer.

— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) February 5, 2014

RT @rioferdy5: Managerial merry go round looks on the cards again. Who next after Laudrup are we thinking?? >> Is this a trick question Rio?

— Ayo Shonaiya (@AyoShonaiya) February 5, 2014

Intentional or otherwise, Ferdinand tried to play down any storm:

After my last couple of tweets people tweeting & looking at me like.... pic.twitter.com/PDXCC2yEtD

— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) February 5, 2014

And when the media decided to run the story, he hit out at the insinuations:

Tell ya what,the media do try & twist ya tweets.Say what you see not what you think you see or what you want to through ya own weird glasses

— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) February 6, 2014

Pt2...eyes. Twisting tweets to suit ya warped minds!

— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) February 6, 2014

 By the end of the day, Ferdinand sounded pretty fed up:

What a long old day this has been!!

— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) February 6, 2014

But had he brought it all on himself?