It is ridiculous that police reinforcements of this magnitude must be deployed to protect a mere football match but that is the world in which we now live. England's qualification for the upper echelons of Euro 2000 means nothing to those of us who live a normal life. Very exciting,' they chorused in unison. What they meant was that they were not going to win anything. None of them did and thus, by turn, they suffered the scarifying abuse of the great unwashedwhobelieve, quite wrongly, that they have a say into such matters.
Abuse now seems to be the lingua franca of so many fans.
It is as though they had something to do with it. They contribute nothing. They watched England lose in a wonderful game and a few of the recidivists reacted as though they were personally involved. Frankly, I don't blame Mr Beckham reacting the way he did. It wasn't polite but it was appropriate.