The funniest Tweets from Stoke's Ryan Shawcross Twitter takeover

The internet held its collective breath earlier today.

It was just between Stoke City announcing one of its most high profile players would be taking part in a live Twitter Q&A, the surefire way to create a PR disaster, and a short while later when Ryan Shawcross sat down and flexed his fingers over the keyboard.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't long before the hashtag #SCFCTakeover was trending. But as the daftness emerged, fears of Stoke becoming a laughingstock were soon quashed as it became apparent that Shawcross was intent on being as blunt and confrontational with his answers as his team regularly is around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.

As wry as you like, Shawcross was both earnest and funny, mixing the serious and insightful to actual fans, as well as dishing out witty retorts to users clearly out to wind him up. Including teammate Jon Walters, who himself attempts to board the banter bus into Chuckles Town at his friend's expense. 

Here are the highlights:

RYAN'S REPLIES:

THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY: