Letter: Football thugs

Sir: Again English supporters have brought shame on the nation. But should we be surprised at this behaviour when they have role models such as Gascoigne and Sheringham who set themselves up as heroes and then act with the utter irresponsibility of recent weeks?

And the French policy of inviting everyone to come and enjoy the World Cup atmosphere must now be seen as complete madness. When the supporters attend the match they can be controlled and have not had as much time to drink, but when they have no match to attend they spend all day in the pubs and bars and at the end are let loose on the city centre with results that we see in Marseilles