Time for clubs to act on crowd abuse: PFA

The Professional Footballers’ Association have urged clubs to clamp down on crowd abuse.

Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell and Norwich boss Glenn Roeder today both insisted the problem is out of control.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor believes clubs should be doing more to target games with potential flashpoints.

“If there is clear knowledge of what may happen at a match, it is as well stewards and police are pre-warned,” he told BBC Sport.

“Clubs need to be very mindful when they are counselling stewards before the game that there may be likely targets in the opposition team.”

Campbell is routinely targeted by Tottenham supporters still bearing a grudge about his departure from the club for bitter rivals Arsenal several years ago.

His Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp recently blasted Aston Villa fans after they abused him a recent game between the sides, while Roeder revealed he was targeted by Colchester supporters on Saturday.

The weekend also witnessed the jeering of Chelsea defender Ashley Cole by the fans of his former club Arsenal.

Taylor said: “When a player is playing in front of his previous club’s supporters and perhaps he has left that club with a bit of acrimony, you would expect a bit of good-humoured banter.

“But when it gets to the level where you wouldn’t have to take it if you were walking down the street, then it becomes a concern.

“So long as it’s good-natured banter, then fine – but if it is not then they need to keep a grip on it. This would be in the same way that clubs have been extremely helpful in combating what was a very bad aspect of football, namely racist abuse.”

Taylor added: “Sometimes there is booing during a game, but it usually fades and then the players get on with it.

“When it continues and it is abuse of a personal nature, that is when players deserve better protection – and I believe most right-minded people would think the same.

“This is when it becomes a matter for the Football Association, the club concerned, the police and stewards.

“England should be proud of the way it has helped to control hooliganism and helped to diminish, if not defeat, racial abuse …. I think it is a responsibility of clubs to control their own supporters.”

Taylor insisted players must not be tempted to react if they are subjected to abuse from opposition crowds.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said. “I have told my members not to take the law into their own hands and not respond – because it just exacerbates the situation.

“The situation has to be left to clubs. There is no reason why clubs can’t control it, but if they can’t then it is up to the FA to step in and make sure they do.”