I’M HOPING anyone convicted of racist abuse at Stoke City gets 10 minutes in the dug-out to explain their views to Abdoulaye Faye.

I don’t think a ban would then be necessary because they wouldn’t risk being in the same postcode area as the City captain.

It was a real shame Stoke’s fantastic game against Blackpool was tainted by allegations that a fan made racist remarks to Seasiders substitute Jason Euell.

I wasn’t there and I’m not going to comment on this particular case, but it’s hard to understand the mentality of anyone making racist remarks, particularly when their own team has black players.

I know Jason from our days at Wimbledon when he was the apprentice assigned to clean my boots. He’s a quiet lad and, for a footballer, is probably one of the more sensitive souls.

He’s 32 now, but would have missed the stuff my generation had to put up with at the back end of the 1970s and the early 1980s.

In those days, racist abuse from a fan wouldn’t have made headlines. The
controversy this incident has generated shows just how far the game has moved in the right direction.

I’m pleased to see Ian Holloway, having believed his striker was abused, made a point of talking at length about the incident after the match.

However, I don’t go along with Ollie’s view that other members of the crowd are at fault for not pointing out the alleged offender to stewards.

In an ideal world that would happen, but most people are embarrassed or just fearful of the consequences if they get involved.

The controversy was just the latest in a recent spate of problems between players and fans.

Much was made of Craig Bellamy and Gary Neville’s behaviour in the Manchester derby on Sunday, but I’m glad neither player has been charged by the FA.

When I read some of the headlines, I thought Bellamy must have been chasing a fan around the pitch. When I saw what had actually happened, my first thought was what the hell did the fan think he was doing on the pitch in the first place?

Players feel vulnerable in those situations, so I wouldn’t throw the book at Bellamy for shoving the guy in the face.

Neville took his celebrations too close to the Man City fans, but it is an emotional game and you can’t go crazy in front of one set of fans and then suddenly turn it all off in front of another.

Of more concern should be the coin that was thrown from the United fans
which hit Javier Garrido on the way off the pitch at at half-time.

We could argue about Garrido’s shocking positional sense because he was walking off right next to United hate figure Carlos Tevez. But having coins and other missiles lobbed at them is something no player should have to put up with – and is a problem which is worse than in my playing days.

While working for television, I’ve spent some games by the touchline, and been amazed by the shower of missiles Frank Lampard has to put up with when he takes a corner in front of rival supporters.

The problem is we only hear about the times when someone actually gets hit – as happened to Garrido, or the linesman who was floored by a 50p piece after standing next to then-Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp at Villa Park last season.

However, some missiles are more deadly than others.

I remember Mark Grew being assaulted with a pie during Vale’s derby game at Stoke in 1989. It didn’t knock Grewy out of his stride.

He just picked it up and took a bite out of it... right in front of the Stoke fans.