Leeds United managed to pull off not one, but two victories on Wednesday night thanks to comprehensive wins over both Ipswich Town and, perhaps somewhat unusually, One Direction star Niall Horan.
It all began when Irish radio producer Thomas Crosse asked Horan if he’d be willing to send Leeds a few good luck vibes ahead of their midweek Championship clash.
However, the singer, a supporter of Leeds’ Championship rivals Derby County, was unwilling to oblige.
No one likes Leeds
— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) October 24, 2018
It wasn’t long before Leeds exercised their right to reply, slapping back at Horan with a jibe about his post-1D output.
No one likes your solo career #BringBack1D https://t.co/PLu0p216pl
— Leeds United (@LUFC) October 24, 2018
Ouch. Perhaps emboldened by finding themselves at the top of the league, Leeds were brave enough to take on the legion of online 1D fans and still emerged victorious.
Marcelo Bielsa truly is working miracles at Elland Road this season.
It’s not the first example of an unlikely football club vs. celebrity Twitter beef. Rangers once unwittingly found themselves mired in a Twitter scrap with fans of Little Mix after a campaign to get one of the club’s most popular chants to Christmas No.1 turned sour in 2016.
Rangers supporters began a social media campaign to get “Glad All Over” by The Dave Clark Five to the top spot, but what they didn’t envisage was coming up against droves of militant Little Mix fans who were attempting to do likewise for the British girl band.
Pot shots were taken on Twitter but Little Mix eventually emerged victorious(ish), with their song “Touch” reaching No.3 in the charts while “Glad All Over” failed to trouble the Top 100.
One of the most unexpected rivalries of 2016? @LittleMix vs. Rangers fans. Yes, really.https://t.co/Hw33hEym1F
— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) 22 December 2016
Aston Villa once got themselves embroiled in an unlikely Twitter spat with Virgin Trains after the transport company made fun of the club’s managerial situation.
The squabble ran for several weeks before eventually being settled with a “grudge match” between Villa’s media department and the Virgin PR team, which the former won 6-2.
Happy to report we beat @VirginTrains 6-2 in the social media grudge match 😉😜 this weekend. We’re the best of friends again now! 👍 #AVFC pic.twitter.com/GibiGAMwUv
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) 27 November 2016
Finally, and altogether far more amicable, is the curious tale of Mark Hammill — aka Luke Skywalker — becoming a full-blooded Wolverhampton Wanderers ultra due to a heart-warming Twitter mix-up.
It began with Hammill “liking” a series of Wolves-related tweets and escalated from there.
I am now. Never heard of them until 2 days ago. All because I “liked” a tweet from a #Wolves fan & they made me feel like family. Very nice!
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) 9 September 2017
Hammill later admitted he thought the aforementioned “Wolves” account was something to do with the animal of the same name, but that he was happy to now call himself a fan of Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
The Force certainly moves in mysterious ways.