The attack on the Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen on Sunday cast a shadow of Manchester City's remarkable comeback win to claim the Premier League title.

During the last 10 days, we have witnessed a series of ugly pitch invasions. It is supposed to be a celebratory moment but some fans appear to have used it as an opportunity to lash out.

In this social media age, it seems some want to put themselves at the centre of the show, but they are dragging the reputations of their clubs into the gutter..

In cricket, the idea of crowds running on at the end of a Test match used to be a common, even harmless, occurrence. However, that ended in 2001 when a steward was injured in a pitch invasion at a one-day match between England and Pakistan.

And nowadays, any invaders can face a fine of up £1,000, which seems – so far – to have been an effective deterrent.

The horrendous scenes at the Euros Final involving England and Italy last summer, where violent fans who had been drinking all day forced their way through the turnstiles, should have sounded a warning.

The recent scenes suggest a very disturbing throwback to the hooliganism of 1970s. And there is some disturbing evidence that this frenzy has, at least in part, been driven by drug taking, particularly cocaine.

In the 1970s, much of the violence occurred outside the grounds, but we do remember the match at Wembley in 1977 Scotland beat England 2-1 provoking an invasion that saw parts of the pitch ripped up and the goalposts destroyed.

Some of the scenes yesterday in Manchester, where parents encouraged children to scale the wrecked posts, were reminiscent of that day. And while much of the celebration seemed good natured, the attack on the Villa keeper makes clear there was a darker side.

Just last week, Everton fans happily celebrated Premier League survival, but the taunting of the Crystal Palace manager Patrick Viera and resulting altercation will sully the club.

The club is no stranger to pitch invasion controversy, however it would appear that the lessons of previous incidents involving its fans have been forgotten.

North of the border, it had been hoped that the long-held political, and religious, divisions between the fans of Celtic and Rangers fans had dissipated, but this no longer seems to be the case.

And it is clear, from the evidence of the attacks on players at a series of play-off games from teams across the country that this return of hooliganism is no blip.

Given the lessons of Hillsborough, no-one wants to bring back the fences, but urgent and vigorous efforts by the clubs and government are needed.

Premier League clubs are awash with cash and perhaps they should be using at least some of this money to fund a greater police presence inside grounds, rather than relying on stewards, who do not have the powers or training to take action.

In the 1980s considerable efforts were made by the government to eliminate hooligans from football matches.

The Public Order Act of 1986 permitted courts to ban supporters from grounds. Subsequently, the Football Offences Act 1991 was created for specific offences such as throwing missile or participating in racist chants.

It must now be clear to everyone that the police and courts should enforce these to the full extent of the law with associated jail terms for violence and cocaine possession, backed by lifetime match bans.

Fines for clubs are no real punishment so it may even be necessary to get ahead of this scourge and force teams to play behind closed doors.