Manchester United striker fined £15,000 for homophobic tweet

Manchester United striker Federico Macheda has been fined £15,000 by the Football Association for making homophobic comments on Twitter.

Newcastle United's Nile Ranger and Walsall's Manny Smith were fined £6,000 and £1,200 respectively by the FA on March 1 for the same charge but Macheda had requested a personal hearing, according to media reports.

The 20-year-old, who is on loan at QPR, is the latest in a series of professional footballers to be punished by the Football Association for remarks on the social media site.

We have already said our thoughts on this issue in previous blogs (see here). Such high-profile cases certainly help spread the message that homophobic behaviour from role models is not, and will not, be tolerated.

However how much this will hurt Macheda personally is questionable. The amount, which equates some people's annual salary, is about a week's wages in the world of a Premiership footballer.

We must hope that the message and the negative publicity around his behaviour will be enough of a deterrent to those that simply do not think twice before they tweet.