VIEIRA RIGHT TO DEFEND HIMSELF FROM PITCH INVADER

CRYSTAL PALACE boss Patrick Vieira was well within his rights to lay the boot into that Everton-supporting moron who targeted him on the pitch after the Toffees had come from behind to beat the Eagles.

Here’s hoping the police see it that way, too, because who can blame any manager or player for defending themselves when illintentioned hooligans suddenly make their place of work a hostile and unsafe place to be.

Pitch invasions are nothing new. They can be almost be tolerated when they are exercises in pure celebration. That isn’t what has been happening in England this week, though. Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp being headbutted in the aftermath of a loss to Nottingham Forest was the most appalling incident of all, but there is a real danger of this becoming a trend and we can only be thankful there are no signs of it spreading here.

No one wants fences going back up again after all this time, but it will surely be talked about as a solution should this atrocious level of disorder continue. In the meantime, authorities should look with an understanding eye at any player, manager or official who, faced with a horde of coked-up boozefiends breaking the golden rule of staying in the stands, takes it upon himself to dish out the odd kick up the bahookie.