Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom (AFP)

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom considered that football is the "worst sport" for racism, calling for tougher punishments to put an end to abuse.

Sheffield goalkeeper Wes Foderingham took to social media to reveal he had suffered from "racism and family threats" after his team's last week's 2-1 defeat against Tottenham.

Heckingbottom revealed that the police have spoken to the goalkeeper about the incident, which he said reflected a larger problem in society.

"You can say it's all social media and people are tough on there and they can say what they want," the coach said on Friday. "You can take it away, but it is deeper than that because it's inside people."

He continued, "It's sad -- I think we are the worst sport for it. I don't know if it's the profile but we are the ones who get the most."

Heckingbottom noted that "there have been big improvements, in society and our game, so we have to just continue being harder and stronger and every time we get a prosecution let's make those punishments harder."

Sheffield were minutes away from winning at Tottenham last week before conceding two goals deep into stoppage time.

On Sunday, they take on Newcastle aiming for their first victory in the Premier League.