Footballer hit with Twitter charge by FA

Premier League footballer Danny Gabbidon has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association after he posted an offensive comment on Twitter.

The 31-year-old West Ham defender wrote the message on the microblogging site after his side's 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa on April 16.

Gabbidon, who later closed down the account, wrote: "U know what, f**k the lot of you, u will never get another tweet from me again, you just don't get it do you. Bye bye (sic)."

The FA confirmed yesterday that it had charged Gabbidon over the comment, stating: "West Ham United defender Daniel Gabbidon has today been charged with improper conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute by The FA. The charge follows media comments made on Twitter on April 16."

Gabbidon now has until 4pm on May 4 to respond to the charge, which follows a £20,000 fine for his West Ham team mate Carlton Cole for comments made on Twitter about the Ghana fans during Ghana's friendly against England.

Various sporting stars now use Twitter to keep in touch with fans, but not always with harmonious results. In January, former Liverpool player Ryan Babel was handed a charge by the FA for posting a mocked-up picture on Twitter of referee Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt after Liverpool's 1-0 defeat to United in the FA Cup.

This week, Manchester United midfielder Danny Gibson shut down his Twitter account just two hours after setting it up following a torrent abuse from purported fans.

One Twitter user told the 23-year-old: "Your performance on Saturday was one of the worst I've ever seen of any Utd player. Scared of the ball much?"

Last month, a panel of experts claimed that Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo is the most social media savvy sports star, but that Wayne Rooney was getting it all wrong. Rooney joined Twitter earlier this month.