ARTER’S SOCIAL DISTANCING

Harry is happy to avoid online chatter as he seeks to focus on the positives of life

HARRY ARTER is relieved to have quit social media after claiming it is a cesspit of negativity.

But while the Ireland midfielder endured his own online scrapes in the past, a harrowing life experience taught him not to dwell on abuse.

Arter is on a season-long loan at Fulham – who are managed by his brother-in-law

Scott Parker (inset)

– from Bournemouth.

But by his own admission, some fans have not warmed to him and although he binned Twitter eight months ago after shipping abuse for appearing to confuse Boris Johnson with Jeremy Corbyn, he is still aware of online criticism.

“My biggest compliment for other players is their mental strength, people like Messi and Ronaldo,” said Arter.

“They’re so talented but their brains must be like brick walls – they let nothing negative get in and that’s the difference between top players and players like myself.

“At Fulham at the minute, they don’t like me really. That’s the feeling I get. It’s not the nicest place for me to go and play because there’s a little bit of negativity when I’m playing. But you have to ignore it.”

In 2015, Arter’s world was rocked when his daughter Renée was stillborn but while that was a “horrific time”, his outlook on life changed.

“It was a period of real loneliness and definitely took its toll on me, but I try not to let abuse get to me now,” he said on a podcast for the Tilney Group.

“A few years ago, I’d have been nervous but I’ve experienced the worst feeling I’ll have in my life.

“So going to play in front of 20,000 Fulham fans, they could be chucking things at me but I’ve a brick wall to that now.”

Arter outlined why footballers are not immune to criticism, even if some fans expect them to be bulletproof because of the eye-watering money they can earn.

The 30-year-old: “Say you had to make a coffee at work but you spilled it everywhere and the next time you go on social media, everyone is hammering you over it.

“The next time you go to make a coffee, you’re going to be slightly nervous that you’ll spill it again.

“A simple task for me would be passing the ball, but sometimes I may not pass it to the right player.

“But to get constantly hammered for it? It doesn’t matter if you’re the best player in the world on X amount of money, or the lowest on Y.

“I don’t like social media one bit. It’s a horrible environment.

“It would be wrong for me to say it’s everyone, but I feel like it’s a community for people who are lonely to jump on and be part of something, but the majority of it is negative.

“If there’s a game on TV, look at the trending page on

Twitter and there’ll be a player trending who is getting abused. The player playing well? Nobody says a word.

“But I feel privileged to play football and no fans are going to make me feel like I shouldn’t be doing it. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me.”