Gordon Taylor, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive, has written to Arsenal striker Eduardo and Birmingham defender Martin Taylor offering messages of support after their ill-fated clash at St Andrews on Saturday.

Taylor is confident the duo will be able to repair their respective careers after the incident which saw Eduardo suffer a broken leg and Taylor subsequently receive death threats.

Eduardo is facing nine months out of action while Alex McLeish, the Birmingham City manager, claimed Taylor is "mentally shattered" at what has happened even though there was no malice in the challenge.

"It is a very unfortunate situation," Gordon Taylor said. "It was one of those footballing things that happens. There have been some other bad injuries in the game. But there was immediate recognition that the lad [Martin Taylor] is not a vindictive player, not a nasty player, and does not have a reputation for making poor challenges. In fact he is sometimes accused of being 'a gentle giant'.

"I have written to Martin and I believe he has the strength of character to overcome this. He has shown remorse and he went to see the lad in hospital. He is a good lad and I know how badly he feels about it.

"The incident happened so quickly. It was one of those things. It happened early on in the game and Martin was late but, like I said, he is not a nasty player and wouldn't inflict an injury like that deliberately."

On Eduardo's situation, Taylor said: "I have also written to Eduardo and it is a tragedy for him, his club and his country and he is going to miss out on playing in the Euro 2008 finals. The signs seem to be good that he will make a full recovery and you hope that is the case and and he returns to full fitness and that Martin also comes through this. You feel sorry for both parties."

Taylor is also hoping the relationship between Birmingham and Arsenal is not affected by the incident. Arsene Wenger has loaned Birmingham players such as Sebastian Larsson, Fabrice Muamba, Nicklas Bendtner and Johan Djourou during the past 18 months with Larsson and Muamba eventually making permanent moves to St Andrews.

Wenger claimed Martin Taylor "should never play again" after the incident but has since retracted those comments. "Managers do get inflamed," The PFA chief executive said. "Arsene is like that. I understand his reaction. It was over the top but to be fair he has since retracted it. You just hope that the good relationship between Birmingham and Arsenal remains. You hope that survives. I have a lot of admiration for both managers."