02 Feb West Ham striker Carlton Cole admits disappointment at fine for ‘trying to be humorous on Twitter’ after telling a Tottenham fan to ‘F off you c***’
- Carlton Cole was fined £20,000 for a tweet he sent to a Tottenham fan
- He told the user to ‘F off you c***’, and later deleted the message
- Cole has now admitted his disappointment at the punishment
- The West Ham striker said: ‘The amount of abuse you get on Twitter is sometimes unruly and you can’t defend yourself as a footballer’
West Ham striker Carlton Cole has spoken of his disappointment at being fined £20,000 for a Twitter indiscretion in which he told a Tottenham fan to ‘F off you c***’.
The 31-year-old, who has 123,000 followers on Twitter, was responding to a message from Spurs supporter Stuart Hardy that read: ‘Hi @CarltonCole1 when your own team-mates don’t kick the ball out when you’re lying injured for 2 mins, you think it’s time to call it a day?’
Cole accepted the fine from the FA, dished out after the incident that occurred on February 22, but has now spoken out to defend himself.
‘I was disappointed I got done,’ the West Ham man told Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday.
‘The amount of abuse you get on Twitter is sometimes unruly and you can’t defend yourself as a footballer.
‘Obviously I know I’ve got responsibility and I’m a role model and some of the language that gets spouted at you, you can’t return it. You’ve got to be very aware of that and I did make a mistake.’
It is not the first time Cole has been caught out by the FA. He was fined £20,000 in April 2011 for a tweet he posted during England’s friendly against Ghana that read: ‘Immigration has surrounded the Wembley premises! I knew it was a trap!
‘The only way to get out safely is to wear an England jersey and paint your face w/ the St George’s flag!’
After his second misdemeanor in February, Cole’s total fines for Twitter wrongdoings rose to £40,000, an amount he admits ‘hurts’.
‘You can’t defend yourself,’ he continued. ‘You’re a sitting duck really and you need to try and be able to blank it out of your mind – but some of the stuff they say is too much.
‘If you can’t handle it you should stay off Twitter or else you’re going to be getting fined a lot.
‘Forty grand hurts! I try to keep it humorous on Twitter, but sometimes being humorous does get you into trouble.’
After his tweet to the Tottenham supporter, the FA’s statement, detailing the fine, read: ‘Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing today, Carlton Cole has been fined £20,000 after he admitted breaching FA Rules in relation to social media.’
‘The West Ham United player, who was also severely warned as to his future conduct, admitted posting a comment on his Twitter account which was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute, in breach of FA Rule E3.’