It looks like European football has entered a new era this week – an era when it is the police who are the biggest thugs at football grounds.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not for one second suggesting the fans are entirely blameless. Wherever there is football there will be, at the very least, a small level of hooliganism.

However, the totally disproportionate response of the Italian police in Rome and the Spanish police in Seville a day later is possibly more terrifying than any football fan scuffle.

Why? Because these are the people we trust to take care of us when we are stuffed into a football ground with 80,000 other strangers. These men (and women) are supposed to be there to keep the hooligans at bay, to make it a safe environment for the real fans. Not to attack us, content in the knowledge that they have the law on their side.

In Rome, in particular, the riot police were totally indiscriminate in their assualts on both away and home supporters. Women and innocent men were beaten with truncheons whether or not they had done anything wrong. Fans helping bleeding friends were also hit about the head. It was sickening.

All that is wrong about this sort of policing was summed up in one television shot which showed an Italian cop standing amidst the bloody chaos screaming and bellowing like a caveman who has just discovered fire.

As I said earlier, the fans themselves are not blameless. Roma have their hardliners who are just looking for trouble as do every other club. The incidents outside the ground, for example, were almost entirely caused by ultras and hardcore idiots.

But, especially inside an enclosed space like a stadium, it is proportionate and civilised response that is the way to control a situation, not barbaric, random, crazed beating of supporters.

We have now witnessed the birth of an entirely new breed of football violence. Only this particularly awful breed of trouble has parents who wear uniforms and swing batons…

Nial Quinn

Nial Quinn might not be a very good manager – cast your mind back to the start of the season when he took Sunderland straight to the bottom of the Championship – but apparently he is making a mighty fine chairman.

The Irishman seems to have pulled off a masterstroke by appointing Roy Keane as manager with the club now among the favourites for promotion to the Premier League in Roy’s first season in charge.

But it’s not just on the pitch and in the league that the Quinn influence is being felt. The fans love him too. And one bunch in particular really adore him now.

After the club’s match with Cardiff a bunch of supporters got a little over zealous on the coach ride home and were thrown off for singing the club’s new anthem – a song which is based on a story about Nial Quinn’s disco pants, no less.

Many chairmen would have distanced themselves from such rowdy elements. But not Mr Quinn. Instead he ordered taxis to take the whole bunch back to Sunderland and then paid the 10,000 pound bill himself.

On that basis alone I think it is fair to say that Sunderland have probably got the best chairman in the country. I mean if he is that generous with the club in the championship, can you imagine what he might be paying for if they make it to the top flight…?

Liverpool’s spanking

Liverpool’s spanking of PSV on Tuesday – and, let’s face it, it was a spanking – has pretty much made the second leg of the quarter-final a pointless affair.

Barring the most dramatic loss of form in the history of football, Liverpool should not only have enough to see off any PSV challenge but should also be able to add a few more to their goal total.

This tie is, essentially, a complete mismatch in terms of ability and it only makes Arsenal’s failure to get past the Dutch team in the previous round all the more remarkable.

Previously I have expressed my doubts about Benitez as a manager, especially when it comes to league football. I detest his rotation policy and I am still not sure he has what it takes to win a Premiership title.

However, there can be no doubting his ability when it comes to Europe. A sterner test than this one lays ahead for Rafa in the next round against either Chelsea or, more likely now, Valencia. But I certainly won’t be betting against him taking his team to a second Champions League final. It just seems to be what he is good at.

Player sues coach

The world of football often throws up strange little stories and this week has been no different with the pick of them coming all the way from France where Troyes defender Jean-Louis Montero has taken the unprecedented step of suing his own coach for defamation.

Troyes boss Jean-Marc Furlan described Montero as “no longer good enough to play in the first division”, a comment to which the player took exception and called in his lawyers.

If this trend spreads it could cause untold damage to the game. Can you imagine if players started suing supporters every time they sang a defamatory song? “You’re not fit to wear the shirt!” would be a chant of the past and would render Manchester City and England supporters almost entirely mute…

English football

If, like me, you like to think you know a little bit about English football, then do I have a website for you: http://users.cjb.net/christophee/index.html

It’s a simple little site that gives you 10 minutes to name all 72 English Football League clubs. Forget the Premiership – that’s all too popular, well known and easy.

This is about naming clubs like Colchester United and Accrington Stanley – there you are, I gave you two – when the pressure is on.

Let me know how many you get right and impress me. I won’t mention my score for know until I know what a few more of you guys did. Let’s just say I didn’t manage all 72…

Contact James on: [email protected]