A BIT of fighting in training and bust-ups in the dressing room have been part of football for as long as meat pies and bovril.

But, for me, Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor crossed a line you shouldn't when he headbutted his team-mate Nicklas Bendtner - a bit like Eric Cantona when he kicked the Crystal Palace fan.

As a player, I had a go at team-mates from time to time but never came close to doing that. I appreciate when times are bad it can be very frustrating and things tend to boil over very easily, but Arsenal are hardly a club in crisis, even if they were getting hammered by their old rivals.

There are reports Bendtner is full of ego and reckons he's a better player than he is but, for me, Adebayor showed a complete lack of respect in doing what he did. He said it was only a little thing but, if I had been nutted in the face by my team-mate in front of millions of people, I wouldn't share that opinion.

One of them might have to leave now and, because Adebayor is rated higher, it will probably be Bendtner.

The other danger is that the two players have different friends in the team and something like this can divide the changing room. I've been at places where there were two or three different cliques of players.

Good managers don't allow that to develop and they don't let anybody think they are better than anybody else. I also feel Arsene Wenger handled the situation wrongly and weakly when he repeated his "I didn't see it" mantra. It's time he stood up for football rather than looking after his own players.

If Wenger never sees anything on the pitch, how can he be doing his job properly? I prefer the Graeme Souness way. He would be honest, condemn those involved and deal with it.

I was always one for honouring the integrity of the game and that's probably why I'm out of it now. I would never have said I didn't see anything if I had.

It will be interesting now to see if Adebayor and Bendtner play together again. It depends on their nature. It is sometimes an unrealistic belief, however, that everybody in a football team likes each other.

I've played with lads that I couldn't stand, although not at York and Coventry, where I obviously enjoyed my most successful times. When I came to York, one of the biggest things that struck me was the camaraderie within the team, which was much better than at Hartlepool and Leyton Orient.

The best sides are those with a good team spirit otherwise as soon as you go a goal down the sniping begins. One of the things I used to hate as a player, which happened when I was at Leyton Orient and Port Vale, was when a team-mate would throw his arms up in a gesture after hitting a bad pass that you couldn't retrieve in an attempt to deflect the fans' criticism. That's not team work.

Another thing that appalled, but didn't surprise, me about the Adebayor incident was that the FA took no further action. It seems to me that, as well as looking after themselves, the big boys also get looked after but everybody should be treated the same.

On the subject of the big boys, though, it's great for football that only six Premier League clubs are in the last 16 of the FA Cup as it increases the chance of more interesting games in the competition.

I watched the Havant and Waterlooville players at Anfield on Saturday night and it was magical seeing binmen and builders rubbing shoulders with millionaires on a level playing field. That doesn't happen in any other walk of life.

The lack of Premier League clubs might also, as I have mentioned previously in the past, mean they are not taking the competition seriously but, from a personal point of view, I am pleased to see that Coventry have snuck through on the blindside.

I don't think the club have gone further than the quarter-finals since I was part of the winning 1987 team and it would be great to see them go further. They've become one of those forgotten clubs and are in need of a lift.

There have been waves of optimism, such as the Ricoh Stadium being built and Iain Dowie's arrival as manager, but the recent takeover dragged on for too long and the club have stagnated really.

They are still close to the relegation zone and a Cup run could reinvigorate them as well as bring a few of us old duffers from the '87 team back out of the woodwork.

Finally, I would like to say what a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon I had at KitKat Crescent on Saturday. To beat the leaders in such a convincing and attractive manner was very encouraging and, as an ex-player, I hope the people of York really get behind the team between now and the end of the season to realise what might be achieved by their side.