Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Collymore said police were "banging their heads against a brick wall" because of the way Twitter operates

Stan Collymore has reactivated his Twitter account, after complaining about receiving abusive tweets.

Earlier, it was reported that the ex-footballer's account had been deactivated overnight.

Mr Collymore had said he was racially abused and sent death threats after commenting about a football match.

He said Twitter was not doing enough to combat illegal messages. Twitter said it did take action. Two teenagers are being questioned about abusive tweets.

Staffordshire Police said officers had spoken to a 14-year-old in the Liverpool area and a 15-year-old in Bedfordshire, but that neither had been arrested and the investigation was ongoing.

Mr Collymore said he was targeted on the social media site after suggesting Liverpool striker Luis Suarez dived to earn a penalty in Saturday's match against Aston Villa.

The football star had said: "I deactivated due to more racism/threats overnight which are being passed on, and to see if twitter's protocol works. We'll see!"

Mr Collymore, who now works as a pundit for radio station TalkSport, accused Twitter of "not doing enough to combat racist/homophobic/sexist hate messages, all of which are illegal in the UK".

He said many of the accounts that had targeted him were still active.

"I mean, this is just sheer lunacy and Twitter at the moment, I don't think they know what to do," he added.

Twitter said it took action against illegal or rule-breaking content.