ACCORDING to Peter Brighton, a researcher who has contacts in gangs in Britain and abroad, Bolton soccer hooligans could be teaming up with yobs from other clubs across Greater Manchester in an attempt to wreck the Euro 96 Champions.

And he has warned that in places like Bolton, Blackburn and Blackpool, there could be mayhem at football grounds as they, and louts from the Czech Republic, battle with German hooligans.

Mr Brighton seems to have his ear to the ground and his warnings sound authentic. It's a hard fact of sporting life, that there are some mob elements with no interest at all in football who see a match as an opportunity to indulge in mindless violence. And the genuine fans are always the losers.

No doubt the police, as well as Mr Brighton, have identified the professional hooligans and have their own plan of action to thwart them.

But their job is made harder by the drunken antics of some soccer stars whose behaviour hardly sets a good example. The latest incident aboard the airline Cathay Pacific when Paul Gascoigne's birthday was celebrated is a case in point. Some MPs are demanding that any players found guilty of involvement in the disgraceful behaviour aboard the airline should be thrown out of the 22-man squad for the European Championship. But an FA spokesman said there are no plans to change the membership of the squad, implying that any outrageous behaviour is acceptable as long as players can perform on the field. That attitude is giving all the wrong signals to those who are only to ready to ape the worse excesses of their soccer idols.

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