James Lawton: FA escapes eerie warning of where mindlessness might end

It is probably not possible to put a price on a proper response to the fetid combination of racism and pitch invasion which made Sunderland's Stadium of Light such an unsavoury, and unsafe, place when England beat Turkey there a month ago.

But a £75,000 fine? It is something which reminds you of standard behaviour by many of those who disfigured that North-east night. It is urination in the wind.

That it could happen – as so many judgements in football do – depended on feeble administration, and there was also that sleight of hand by the Football Association which suggests that when the Premiership bosses finally destroy the idea of an independent football authority, they might just try their hands at the old three-card trick.

Certainly the FA deserve some credit for the nifty footwork which persuaded Uefa, European football's governing body, to hand out that derisory fine rather than a "closed doors" penalty for the next European Championship match at Middlesbrough – a saving of about £2m.

If it is true, as it appears to be, that money is the only thing football administrators truly care about these days, Soho Square achieved a major result in retaining the much needed revenue from the Slovakia match.

Morally, and psychologically, however, it was another routine disaster for the game. It said, yet again, that football is bereft of any standards let alone a universal one. The most bizarre, but apparently successful, strand of the FA argument was that the previous good behaviour of English fans at home should be given strong consideration.

For anyone who shared the boulevards of Rome and Marseilles, Charleroi and Brussels with a "minority" of misbehaving England fans it was breath-taking sophistry – a bit like saying that when Visigoths came home on leave they were suddenly little rays of sunshine.

This wasn't, of course, the case in Sunderland when England supporters – led by a large contingent of vendetta-fuelled Leeds fans – booed the Turkish national anthem, indulged in relentless racism – and invaded the pitch. Without wishing to exacerbate the already pressing financial problems facing the FA, there is certainly cause for regret that the Slovakia match will not serve as an eerie warning of where the mindlessness might end.

It would have said, after all these years of Clockwork Orange, that finally a point of zero tolerance had been reached. No doubt the loss of £2m would have concentrated FA minds on the dawning problem of pitch invasion – and maybe even David Beckham's.

The England captain is on the record as saying he would have favoured closed doors at the Riverside because he had come to wonder if a big international game was where he would want his wife and children to be. It was a position that would have carried more weight had he not himself behaved so irresponsibly at the Stadium of Light. Apart from a wildly emotional and erratic performance, which earned an early yellow card, he offered his usual photo opportunity by rushing towards a crowd which had already displayed its fancy for a bit of pitch invasion. Such was the quality of England's leadership on the field on a critical night.

The FA offer not to claim its ticket allocation for the autumn match in Istanbul was widely, and no doubt correctly, seen in part as a negotiating ploy in yesterday's effort to save the Middlesbrough gate, but whatever its motivation it was to be welcomed. It was an act of simple common sense when set against the history of Anglo-Turkish football relations.

Another benefit in the aftermath of Sunderland was the putting aside of one of the most pervasive myths surrounding English football hooliganism. It was the assertion that only a minority go abroad looking for trouble wherever they can find it. According to this theory, the silent majority travel for their love of football and pride in their nation.

The FA official Paul Barber is disputing this worn-out belief. He says that by now it should be clear to everyone (maybe even David Mellor, who defended the hoolies so egregiously after their sickening behaviour in Rome six years ago) that the "vast majority" of England fans who go abroad are "white, aged 20-40 years old who present themselves in an aggressive manner." If only it was a matter of presentation. I once saw that "aggressive presentation" congeal into the most squalid, lemming violence all one long afternoon and evening in the old port of Marseilles. I sat on the balcony of my hotel, under which the gendarmerie loaded up with tear gas, and the following day I was not altogether surprised when a waiter, after noting my English accent, spat on the pavement.

The Slovakian game should have been played in an empty ground. It would have addressed a problem at source – something that was never done before the English infection became a chronic disease.