​Exclusive by Tom Bradshaw

Bath Rugby prop Duncan Bell has launched an astonishing attack on the club’s fans, dismissing much of their recent criticism of his under-performing team-mates as “bull****”.

In remarks that are bound to infuriate portions of The Rec faithful, the veteran England and Bath forward says he and his colleagues play principally for themselves, not for the sake of the club’s supporters.

Bell says the side’s aim is to win matches and climb up the table, “not to please some bloke standing in the terrace who’s paid 30 quid”.

Bath, who have yet to win at home in either the Guinness Premiership or Heineken Cup this season, have been jeered off The Rec in two of their last three home matches.

The club’s woeful three-month stretch hit a new low on Saturday when they capitulated 16-0 to London Irish, putting in an inept display that prompted a mass exodus 20 minutes before the final whistle from rain-soaked fans.

And many supporters have vented their frustration at Bath’s parlous start to the campaign with direct and sometimes acerbic remarks on fans’ web forums and on the Chronicle’s sister website, www.thisisbath.co.uk.

The criticisms have clearly hit a sensitive spot. An angry Bell, who is in his seventh season at Bath, used a straight-talking interview with the Chronicle – complete with ripe language – to dismiss claims that players weren’t giving their all as “absolute rubbish”.

The 35-year-old, who played against the Exiles last week following starts in two of England’s Autumn Tests, said: “It happens in football and it clearly happens in rugby as well, where fans want to voice their opinion and say that because they pay their money every week they have a right to say how we play the game. Well, they don’t.

“We play as hard as we can and this season especially, although it’s been pretty poor, there has never been a time when we haven’t put 100 per cent into everything we do.

“It really pi**** me off when I hear and read things from supporters and they say ‘The boys aren’t putting it in’ or ‘They don’t care about the badge’. That’s bull****.

“It’s really easy for a fan just to say ‘They’re losing so they don’t care about the badge’. That’s rubbish, absolute rubbish.

“We play rugby first and foremost for ourselves as a group. As much as we want the fans to be there, we’re not doing it for the fans.

“We are doing it for us and it will always be that way.

“But at the same time and in the same breath, there’s no way we want to see fans leaving The Rec before the end of the game and to get booed off the field. That’s not something we want to be involved with.

“It’s great to play and win games and hear the crowd screaming and shouting and being behind us, but first and foremost we do it for us. We do it for ourselves – to win. We are all winners, we all want to win. We are all mates and in it together. I suppose a by-product of that is that we want to win for the fans as well.

“We don’t go into a game thinking ‘Ooh, we must play well otherwise the fans are going to boo us’. We’re not thinking about that at all. We go into a game thinking we must win so that we overtake Worcester, Gloucester, Newcastle or whoever. That’s our aim. It’s not to please some bloke standing in the terrace who’s paid 30 quid.

“They can voice their opinions but when they say ‘that was a poor performance, you should donate a month’s salary’, it’s just an absolute joke as far as I’m concerned.

“A lot of players are here because they want to play for Bath Rugby and because of what comes with that. I can tell you every time we go out onto the field we are putting absolutely everything into it.

“We are passionate about playing at The Rec and passionate about playing for the rest of the boys and everything that comes with Bath, and that includes the fans. So it really hurts when the fans say we’re not putting enough into it when we know we are but that for one reason or another we’re not winning games and things are going wrong.

“There have been a few games this season that we’ve only lost by a few points. We could be sitting upper-mid table and perhaps the fans wouldn’t be so vocal in their displeasure.”

Bell, who has pulled on the blue, black and white shirt 152 times, added that he believed the Bath squad had the depth and strength of character to emerge from the doldrums.

“We are working very hard as a squad to rectify things. It’s not like we are not prepared going into games,” he said.

“For one reason or another we haven’t clicked so far this season but we have got enough characters and talent in this squad to turn the corner.”

Bell issues apology