West Ham United's Carlton Cole has been fined £20,000 for a breach of Football Association rules in relation to social media.

The striker was also "severely warned" about his future conduct after admitting to posting a comment on his Twitter account which was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute, in breach of FA Rule E3.

Cole was responding to a message from Spurs supporter Stuart Hardy,  which read: "Hi @CarltonCole1 when your own team-mates don't kick the ball out when you're lying injured for 2 mins, you think it's time to call it a day?"

Cole replied: "F off you c***" before later deleting the tweet.

The former Chelsea player has been in trouble before for previous postings on social media.

He was fined £20,000 by the FA in 2011 for a tweet he posted during England's friendly against Ghana which read: "Immigration has surrounded the Wembley premises! I knew it was a trap!

"The only way to get out safely is to wear an England jersey and paint your face w/ the St George's flag!"