Robbie Keane, the Tottenham Hotspur striker, believes players should brush off any abuse directed at them from the crowd.

Sol Campbell, the Portsmouth defender, spoke out yesterday against the more vicious abuse players have to contend with, arguing that in any other walk of life the offender would be arrested.

But Keane has a laid-back attitude to fans who give him stick. "Verbal abuse - I've had it, but nothing that would make me go crazy," he said. "Things like that don't really bother me. You get fans who say things in the heat of the moment.

"Sometimes fans try to give you a little bit of stick and I give a little bit back to them. It's just a bit of banter really. Fans say things they don't really mean. It's a spur-of-the-moment thing, getting a little bit of stick here and there doesn't hurt anyone.

"I don't know what has been said to Sol. It obviously must have been something that really upset him for him to ask the FA to intervene."