Hatred away from the pitch not good for football

Professional footballers expect some riling from the stands, but there is no place for abuse away from the pitch.

Neil Lennon, whose Celtic team have been involved in several fiery clashes with rivals Rangers, has been sent letter bombs through the post.

I like Manchester City fans but, unfortunately, I don't think some of them are doing their club's image any good.

At Blackburn Rovers on Monday night they started singing about the 1958 Munich air disaster, which was quite distasteful.

A lot of innocent people died in the Munich crash and songs mocking the dead need to be condemned because a climate of hatred is not good for football.

I saw no problem joining Manchester City as a player, but some of their supporters did at the start of my time there because I had played for Manchester United.

I had only been at the club a few days and was flown out to a pre-season tour of Thailand. I had just met my new teammates when a fan approached as I stepped off a coach.

He was still upset because he thought I had taunted supporters after I had scored against his team.

"When you scored for United against City, you celebrated in front of the City fans," he said. "That was out of order."

Was it? I celebrated near the goal where I had just scored, like I did throughout my career, but the fan saw it differently. I heard a few grumbles from City fans when I joined them because I'd played for United.

They melted away when I gave their club 100 per cent and scored goals.

The mindset of the fan is completely different from that of the player. Footballers will move around clubs, often because they have little choice but to do so. They have bills to pay like anyone else, a family to support. Playing for a club does not automatically make you a fan of that club.

The relationship between fans and footballers is a complex one.

Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, and United's Darron Gibson may have pondered that this week.

Lennon received letter bombs in the post simply because he is the manager of Celtic, the Scottish giants from Glasgow, while Gibson joined Twitter and was immediately abused by people calling themselves United fans. He quickly closed his account.

I know the rules are different in Scotland, where football and religion are intertwined. The problem is that football and religion do not mix, at least not in the eyes of a player.

But some fans think that they can say what they want to a player, however abusive.

David Beckham got horrendous abuse about his family from rival fans when he played for Man United. You half expect it from away fans and you can almost use it as a form of motivation, but it's different when you get abuse from your own.

Some fans may see it differently. Supporters claim that they pay their money and that gives them to right to abuse or say what they want. I disagree. And anyway, while fans are the lifeblood of football, a player will still get paid the following week whether an abusive idiot attends a game or not.

These people are unlikely to go away. I was signing autographs after one game at Old Trafford when a man handed me a piece of paper and then proceeded to abuse me and take apart my game.

I looked up and he wasn't a coach I recognised, but an angry man clutching a carrier bag.

If he had such a low opinion of me, why was he asking for my autograph? He was coming out with all kinds of nonsense so I scrubbed out my signature and handed him back the paper.

He didn't know what to do, but then those sort of fans don't when you answer back to them.

They feel like they can hurl abuse into a void that nobody hears.

They say things they wouldn't dream of saying face to face, so they are surprised, stunned even, when the subject of the abuse responds. They usually then back down completely because they suddenly realise that you are human too.

Abuse comes in different forms and there is always someone trying to make a name for themselves. I still get it now. I could be walking down the street with my kids and see a group of lads. One may shout out "Andy Cole is a clown." Big men, eh?

That said, I enjoyed a largely good relationship with fans at all the clubs for which I played. I scored goals and was popular, but there were times when my fans got on my back.

Sometimes it was through frustration and I can understand that.

Supporters only want to see their team do well. If a player cost a lot of money then it's natural that he's expected to do well.

As a professional footballer you also need the mental resolve to deal with that.

You can't crumble, but what happens when the abuse continues off the pitch?

Is it right that someone should get a letter bomb or be hounded by personal abuse on the internet? I think you know my answer.

Andrew Cole's column is written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten