Ashley Cole should be banned from Twitter, not the England team, according to former Three Lions defender Gary Pallister.

Chelsea left-back Cole was today facing an unprecedented social-media fine after being charged with misconduct by the Football Association over his foul-mouthed tweet about them.

Former Saints star Alan Shearer also called for the 31-year-old to be banned from playing in Friday's World Cup qualifier against San Marino.

But Shearer's former international team-mate Pallister disagreed, insisting Cole and other professional players should be barred from posting on social media sites instead.

Speaking at the launch of the 'In the 90th' campaign, marking the 90th season of The Football Pools, the ex-Manchester United man said: "I don't agree with the whole social networking/Twitter situation anyway. And I think clubs should be asking players not to get involved with it.

"Time and again, we are seeing players getting involved, giving a gut or an instant reaction to something that has been said or something that has happened, and they put their foot in it.”

Saints have several players on Twitter, including Jack Cork, Jos Hooiveld, Richard Chaplow and Adam Lallana, but no-one has ever got in trouble through using the social networking site.