Racist abuse forces Manchester City's Micah Richards to close his Twitter page - report

The 23-year-old England international has allegedly shut down his account permanently as police investigate some of the comments left on the social networking site

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Micah Richards has shut down his Twitter account after suffering a sickening amount of racist abuse, according to The Daily Mirror.

The powerful right-back used the site to interact with Manchester City fans about various football-related topics but a source believed to be close to the player said that the level of abuse was too much.

“Micah enjoyed the direct communication and banter with fans, particularly the Man City fans," the source said.

“In recent months, however, there’s been an increase in racist abuse from a small and depressing minority, and he decided enough was enough.”

Police began investigating the Richards case in November when abuse was first directed at him; it is believed that someone based in Linconlshire was responsible for the original comments.

It is the latest in a string of incidents surrounding Twitter that have emphasised the fact that racism remains an issue for football.

Other players such as Djibril Cisse, Louis Saha, Fraizer Campbell and pundit Stan Collymore have all been targeted whilst using the site to express their views and opinions on the sport.

Police are keen on clamping down to prevent such incidents happening again, and it is widely understood that arrests have been made in relation to the matter.