On Sunday we saw all that is finest in English football when we were treated to a wonderful spectacle in a full blooded Manchester derby where no quarter was asked for or given and the excitement and passion was unrelenting from start to finish. As a neutral it didn’t particularly bother me who won but what a shame that such a splendid advertisement for the game was overshadowed by the behaviour of some so-called fans.

As the game reached its climax the excitement was clearly too much for some feeble minded cretins amongst the Manchester City ranks who threw coins at the celebrating Manchester United players causing a nasty, bloody cut next to the eye of a United player. Another idiot invaded the pitch in an attempt to cause further mayhem only to be stopped by Manchester City’s goalkeeper.

Manchester City, as the host club, will probably be punished for these incidents and their fans, most of whom are as decent as any of us, will be vilified. Is this fair, because, make no mistake, these incidents could have occurred in almost any ground in the country. Every club has an unsavoury element amongst its following and what happened at Manchester City could just as easily have occurred at Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham or Manchester United.

I’ve been a football fan for nearly 50 years and I have been witness, particularly in the 70s and 80s to some of the worst excesses of football fans’ behaviour. Of course, it’s not as bad now as it was then but violence and the threat of violence is never far away in many football stadiums. If you don’t believe me just watch a televised game when a player is taking a corner in front of a great phalanx of opposition fans. You will see the player, often as not, being subjected to a barrage of insults, general abuse and obscene hand gestures. Look at the faces of some of the fans and all you can see is anger, vitriol and bile. They are so contorted with rage that you can almost feel their hatred.

That, for some people is football and I don’t think we can ever eradicate such behaviour. Football is a tribal game, it is almost primeval in its intensity and at its best it is a great release of passion, pent-up frustration and at times an explosion of happiness – how do you feel when your team scores a goal? It is a shame that some “fans” behave the way they do but a thug is a thug no matter who he supports and no matter the colour of his shirt. All we can do is attempt to keep the lid firmly down by proper policing and control and hope that their behaviour doesn’t spoil the game for the rest of us. Don’t blame Manchester City for what occurred yesterday, it just happened to be their turn that’s all. Next week it will be somebody else’s.