As Chelsea's John Obi Mikel becomes the latest footballer to close their Twitter account, we ask should footballers be allowed to communicate with fans via Twitter?

The Nigerian international used Twitter to apologise to Chelsea fans after his mistake led to a late equaliser for Juventus in their Champions League fixture on Wednesday. The Metro reported that less than 24 hours after the game, the midfielder closed his account, while Chelsea confirmed they had contacted the police over racist comments aimed at the player.

A club statement said: 'We've been made aware of racist tweets targeted at Mikel which are totally unacceptable, disgusting and abhorrent. We've informed the police and support taking the strongest possible action.'

On Thursday night Ipswich Town's Michael Chopra took to Twitter to hit out at fans who have attacked the side for their poor start to the season. The forward said fans who had criticised the team on the internet 'don't have a clue about football'.

The outburst came just 24-hours after Town were beaten by Wolves leaving them in the relegation zone. But Chopra said it was too early to judge the players and manager Paul Jewell. In a series of posts he said: 'Find it so funny reading ... the Ipswich town fans who write comments ... don't have a clue about football.

Earlier this year Norwich City captain Grant Holt deleted his Twitter account. The striker said: 'We went to Cyorus for David Fox's wedding and I only tweeted once all week and it was nice.

'I came back and had another week on it, but then thought I can't be bothered any more - I've got three kids running around and it got to the point where I couldn't go to Tesco without everyone knowing where I was.'

Holt's strike partner Steve Morison also briefly dabbled in Twitter - posting a picture of the eggs his chickens had laid before removing his account.

Do you agree with footballers using Twitter?