Okay, I’m feeling a tad bored with this sanctimonious, holier than thou attitude towards our loveable, balaclava-clad Rusky cousins from across the Baltic.
Firstly, those bare-chested, beer-swilling, chair-throwing “ten German bombers in the air” loud and proud English, aren’t necessarily hooligans, but equally they’re unlikely to be found in a local museum, or admiring the cathedrals and vineyards of the French republic.
Our idea of a good time is basically drinking hard and drinking fast. We hang around in large numbers, and react aggressively to the slightest provocation. We frequently blame the Police for overreaction, but seldom question our own accountability.
The pre match Marseille chaos was reminiscent of a typical Saturday evening in Ibiza, Ayia Napa, or Faliraki. That’s what the English are like, and unfortunately, we’ve become a magnet for foreign hooligan subculture.
We all know that our real hooligans (many of them now in their mid 50s) were banned from travelling. However, the Russians and Marseille gangs just see wave after wave of English aggression, so it was always going to happen.
Many innocent English fans were caught in the panic, but sadly it was just an inevitable consequence of three days of stupidity.
Add a late Saturday kick off to the mix, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for carnage.
The violence inside the stadium was completely different, and far more sinister.
In fact, if a Russian supporter can smuggle a flare gun into a stadium, then you fear for public safety on a far more horrific scale.
