This article first featured on TheSPORTbible
An on-loan Chelsea player was dropped yesterday over comments he made about Conor McGregor on Instagram.
Defender John Swift, who is spending the season with Championship side Brentford, was dropped from the club's match-day squad on Saturday's game with Blackburn Rovers.
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He had been named in Gareth Southgate's England under-21 squad earlier in the week, but soon faced a backlash from Bees supporters after replying to UFC star McGregor's post on the social media website.
McGregor's post read: "Some days they love you. Some days they hate you. Both days I got paid." And Swift replied by simply saying: "What a guy."
The short message was somehow interpreted as a dig at his temporary club's fans, something which he denied by quickly adding: "The last post wasn't a dig at the Brentford fans at all, I apologise."
However, regardless of his mea culpa, the 20-year-old was told on Friday night he'd been removed from the squad over the incident.
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Brentford boss Dean Smith said via Sky Sports: "John wasn't in the team anyway but he posted something on social media that I was made aware of. I spoke to him this morning and I just didn't think it was right to put him on the bench today."
"He explained it when he took it down and apologised. I don't think there was any malice in it, but it was naive from a young lad.
"Sometimes I don't think they realise how many people it goes out to once they press the enter key, such is social media.
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"He'll go on international duty now with England U21s, which we're pleased about, but we'll speak to him."
Brentford went on to lose the game 1-0.
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