BIRMINGHAM defender Martin Taylor has been the subject of death threats after his challenge on Eduardo da Silva left the Arsenal striker with a broken leg.

Croatian fans, angry at Eduardo's being ruled out of the Euro 2008 Finals, are among those who have posted threatening messages on various internet sites.

One website specifically set up after the incident in Saturday's 2-2 draw at St Andrews has already received 27,000 messages directed at the former Blackburn player.

And security personnel had to restrain Croatian journalists who ran onto the road and tried to get into Taylor's car as he left the club's Wast Hills training complex on Monday.

But Taylor has also received many messages of support from people inside football, which Blues manager Alex McLeish claimed had helped limit the psychological damage he could have suffered.

'There has been a furore over the incident which has probably gone too far and we would like to draw a line under it now and let Martin get on with his career and hope Eduardo gets back as soon as possible,' McLeish told Sky Sports.

'I've heard about the death threats, and you are going to ridiculous proportions, if that is the case. You've just got to get on with it and dismiss those things. There are some crazy people in the world.

'We've had to rally around Martin because he was mentally shattered by the whole experience. I would have been worried about him coming for training today had we not received the support from people the length and breadth of the country.'

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had retracted his post-match statement that said Taylor 'should never play football again'.

RETRACTION

McLeish said: 'The fact Arsene has retracted them tells you the whole story. I did say after the game that maybe Arsene has acted in the heat of the moment and Arsene admitted he had done that.

'We've got to let that lie now, move forward, thanks to the support of everyone who knew it wasn't a challenge with malice intending to injure a player.'

McLeish admitted Taylor may have been unable to continue in Saturday's game had he not been shown the red card by referee Mike Dean after the third-minute incident.

He added: 'Martin was horrified and, if the referee had given him only the yellow card rather than the red one, I don't know if he could have played on, anyway. You just had to see the look on his face.

'It affected our players as well as Arsenal. It was a horrendous injury and some of the players were horrified by what they had seen.

'I've seen similar injuries. Henrik Larsson had one for Celtic against Lyon and I could only feel this was something similar.

'Henrik came back from that and showed he was a world-class player. Eduardo is a world-class player, too, and I am sure he will come back.'

Taylor will have to wait at least a month before he can return to action, after he collected an automatic three- match ban for his sending-off.

He will be suspended for the home clashes with Tottenham and Newcastle and the away game with Portsmouth.

PA Sport