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At the end of a week that has seen terrible abuse for professional footballers on social media it is time some supporters had a good long look at themselves.

To racially attack players like Paul Pogba and Tammy Abraham for missing penalties defies belief to me. I would call it childish were there not such a nasty element to it.

People ready to cross the line when it comes so-called support for their team are nothing new to the game. I know that only too well as my name was in the phone book back in 1990 when Bristol Rovers played Bristol City in the most important derby match for years.

The night before the game at Twerton Park, with both teams going for the Third Division title, I had City fans ringing me threatening my wife and kids.

Call me stupid, but it only increased my determination to play well and win the match. I remember geeing up my team-mates before kick-off and went on to score from a penalty as we won 3-0.

(Image: AP)

The trouble now is that social media makes it so much easier for anonymous fans to post abusive messages. How brave is that?

Things like Twitter are now part of our society and do good in many ways. They help someone like my housebound father-in-law keep in contact with people, which is great.

But too many football followers find loopholes to exploit that enable them to keep dishing out dirt. Those who get their accounts shut down can set up another within seconds and start again.

I thought England defender Harry Maguire was thinking along the right lines when he said that every account opened should be verified by a driving licence or passport. But do we really want to hand over passport details? Could we trust in them remaining confidential?

There is no easy solution. No one is more passionate about football than me and I understand the rivalry that exists between clubs.

When Phil Kite called me to say he has joined Bristol City in 1994 I put the phone down on him. Yet since then we have remained good friends.

There has to be some dignity involved. Maybe I used to forget that occasionally in my younger days, but even then I would never have considered the sort of vitriol that is now commonplace among a section of supporters.

Players are only human. No one means to miss a penalty, but it happens. How ridiculous is it to make that an excuse for racial abuse?

Every minute of each day I thank football for what it has given me in my life. I remain a staunch Rovers fan because the club did so much for me, but I will not be jealous or vindictive over what is going on at Ashton Gate.

That brings me to Matty Taylor, who it seems can expect a rowdy reception if he plays for Oxford United, on loan from Bristol City, at the Memorial Stadium tomorrow.

(Image: Getty Images)

That makes absolutely no sense to me. If I were to see Matty the first thing I would want to do is thank him for all the goals he scored in the blue and white quarters.

So he left for a song to join City. It was Rovers’ fault that the fee was only £300,000 because of the release clause they put in his contract.

Suggestions that Lee Johnson only signed Matty to hurt Rovers are way off the mark. That would have been unbelievably unprofessional and I am certain it wasn’t the case.

Lee saw a player who could improve his squad available at a snip of a price. I once considered signing Matty myself and as it happens I still believe him capable of playing in the Championship.

He saw an opportunity to earn more money and play at a higher level than League One. His form for Rovers earned that chance and what person in any profession turns down the chance to better himself.

Matty is not the first player to have left Rovers for the red side of town. In my early playing days Keith Curle did the same thing and he went on to play for England.

I was annoyed when Taylor moved because I felt he was an integral part of the Rovers team. It was the same when Billy Bodin and Ellis Harrison were sold.

(Image: Oxford United)

But not one part of me blames them for trying to further their careers. That should be every professional footballers’ ambition and just because Matty’s move happened to be to City there is no cause to vilify him.

He wore the Rovers shirt with pride and it’s just possible that his City career has not been all he might have wished for up to now because of crossing the great divide.

Ashton Gate fans may like to goad Rovers with the chant “Matty Taylor is a Red”, but were all of them really so pleased when he signed?

I know what it is like to feel hated by supporters because I experienced it as a manager at Millwall. I did well there to start with, but in the second season when things went wrong the chairman went public saying I was the most expensive manager he had ever had.

From that moment on I was dead meat as far as the supporters were concerned. But how was it my fault what I earned when I turned the job down three times and he kept coming back with bigger offers?

I feel so strongly about the threat of Matty Taylor being abused at the Memorial Stadium tomorrow that I will say now that anyone who insults him is insulting me too.

That is not how true Rovers fans behave.