Derby day troubles - A one off? Or here to stay?

The scenes at the end of yesterday's Wear-Tyne derby weren't pretty, and I think most of us will agree that football has moved on since the days of trouble at football matches.

Yesterday it reverted back to the dark old days to an extent. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that bad when compared to the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's, but it was bad enough compared to what we as fans have become used to.

It was a derby day and the passion and tension was bound to be running high, but at the end of the day it is only a football match. Yes, there was a match played yesterday, and Newcastle done very well in it, but the main focus of the press has been on off-field events that took place at the Stadium of Light yesterday afternoon.

There have been arrests, and there could well be more. I'm also sure that anyone found to have been taking an active part in the trouble will be brought to justice. That is fair enough, but it is becoming ridiculous, especially at the Stadium of Light. Why can't they control their fans?

That is the real problem in all of this. Fans will be fans and will get irate in the heat of battle, particularly a Tyne-Wear battle. It doesn't make it ok, but it was perhaps the most predictable event of yesterday.

I've heard stories of darts being thrown and knives being concealed in peoples clothing. Were these people not searched on the way into the ground? I go to quite a few away games and generally I'll get searched, along with everyone else. Did this not happen yesterday?

Northumbria Police erected a metal fence outside the ground to segregate the fans, yet inside the ground they had very little segregation - one row of Police if reports are to be believed. What wisdom was behind that? Not much.

The stewarding was atrocious, again, which resulted in the Mackem annual pitch invasion and the assault of Steve Harper. It was only a push, but it was still assault. Thank god the kid didn't have anything more sinister planned!

This kind of thing doesn't happen at St James' Park though, which leads me to the conclusion that Sunderland just can't cope with the crowd issue. Granted, they get big crowds when pop acts such as Pink roll up on Wearside but, having never been to a Pink concert, I'm willing to guess that the crowd is of a slightly calmer nature.

The fallout from events will continue for some time,and sanctions will no doubt be heaped upon both clubs, which is a shame really considering the vast majority of fans from both clubs have no interest in causing bother. Unfortunately it is these fans that any sanctions will hit the hardest

Yesterday we saw a committed derby match from two sides just wanting to play football, although the team in black and white were the better. It was a true derby game full of tackles and was played at a frenetic pace for long periods. It was a great advertisement for the area and was infinately more enjoyable than the Birmingham derby.

Unfortunately, that won't be why it will be remembered.