MANAGING director Gus Mackay says he is reluctant to personally engage with fans on social media as he bids to control Worcester Warriors’ messaging “properly”.

Former chief executive Jim O’Toole was a big advocate of using “modern communication channels” to speak to supporters during his two-year reign at Sixways.

But Mackay admits responding to messages can be “very time consuming” and says he will do things “slightly differently” to make sure fans receive “better messaging” via the club’s official social media accounts.

“I am on Twitter but I have a media department to manage messaging because that’s the right way to run a business otherwise you will get caught in the public eye,” he said.

“If somebody has got a real issue about certain things then we need to talk about it.

“I don’t have a problem with fans saying how they feel but our response to those has to be in the right format.”

The Sixways faithful often use Twitter and Facebook as a platform to express their views, especially after matches.

Mackay, who recently replaced O’Toole, says he recognises the importance of it but insists he will not run the club on a “minority of views”.

“Social media has a big part to play in today’s world but it needs to be managed in the correct way,” said the ex-London Broncos chief.

“The views of fans are important but I will not look to run the club on a minority of views so in terms of how we do our messaging it will all be done in the right way because we are a professional organisation.

“My predecessor had his own ways of doing it which are slightly different to the way I will do it.

“But we will still get the right messaging out through the right channels.”

Mackay added: “It can become very time consuming so my view is if we are going to be professional about this let’s do it properly and get better messaging out that is more meaningful than ad hoc.

“That said I am not against the social media side because I want fans to know when things happen and that’s (our media department’s) job.”

Speaking in December last year O’Toole, who was previously commercial director at London Irish, said: “Modern communication channels are open to everybody.

“I have daily communication with supporters on Twitter, on club forums, on e-mail, telephone and text messaging.

“I’ve even had messages sent to me on Facebook Messenger from people who I’m not friends with who insist on getting their message across and like to tell me how things can be improved.

“I didn’t come to run a rugby club to hang around with the players.

“For me it’s about the excitement and passion of dealing with a large number of committed supporters and the environment that creates.

“People like to give their opinions and I’m here to receive them. If people come to me and communicate politely I take it all on board. It’s the old point about ‘the customer is king’.

“They’re not always right and some people get a bit carried away but people aren’t unpleasant just for the sake of it. You know it’s only because they care.”