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Carlton Cole has been fined the vast sum of £20,000 by the FA for the relatively minor offence of appearing to swear on social media.

An Independent Regulatory Commission declared today that Cole - who had previously admitted the charge - was guilty of bringing the game into disrepute after he told a Twitter troll to 'f off' following the recent 2-2 draw at Tottenham.

"The West Ham United striker, who was also severely warned as to his future conduct, admitted 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," read an FA statement.

The FA decided to plough ahead with the lucrative hearing despite the troll - a Spurs follower - having written to them after the charge was made requesting that they drop the case against Cole, as he had not been offended by the 31-year-old's comment.

The fine is Cole's second £20,000 rap in the last four years.

In 2011 he was fined by the FA - the world's richest national assocation - after being charged with "improper conduct", following a light-hearted comment he made on Twitter regarding immigration following England's friendly with Ghana at Wembley.

In the last three years alone, the governing body have raised in excess of £350,000 from fines attributed to comments posted on social media. The current record holder is Ashley Cole, who was hit with a bill for no less that £90,000 in 2012 when he referred to the FA as "a bunch of twats".

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