Hooliganism has reared its ugly head again with the events after the final whistle at Hillsborough and Luton.

If the sight of scrotes taunting the away end at Valley Parade was depressing enough, then followed the trouble on the pitch after two highly-charged games.

The capacity for trouble at both was obvious. One match was a winner-takes-all for a place in the Conference play-off final; the other a loser-suffers-everything relegation scrap to avoid the drop from the Championship.

Tension was inevitably running high, though that is hardly an excuse to try attacking an opposing player.

Crystal Palace defender Clint Hill came under fire from home fans as he ran to find the sanctuary of the dressing room.

But York’s players had it even worse, fleeing into the stand as the hate mob ran riot at Kenilworth Road.

Those who went to City’s game at Luton in January last year will have seen the warning signs of that collective anger.

When Barry Conlon made it 3-3 with a penalty six minutes into added time, it felt like the whole ground was going to erupt.

Referee Trevor Kettle was abused by the home players and supporters and showered with coins.

And one member of the City board told me how he was threatened by a frothing local who tried to lean into the directors’ box to swing a couple of right handers.

This is a bit rich coming from the club where, many moons ago, they banned away supporters altogether in the wake of major trouble in a cup tie with Millwall.

Luton were held up by the government at the time as a shining example of a club fighting back against the louts. How times change.

Maybe next season they should look to instigate another ban – and try keeping out the home fans.