Pitch invasions are a big problem and could lead to someone being KILLED – what if a player got stabbed?

PITCH INVASIONS are becoming a huge problem.

And I want to use this article to plead with the FA and the Premier League to seriously look into this. Right now, they are putting players and managers in really difficult situations.

In this country, we are always reactive rather than proactive.

So, do something about it . . . before someone is killed.

These invasions have become a growing trend over the last couple of weeks and what we have seen is an undying need from a small percentage of idiots to go that one step further.

When I saw the footage of Patrick Vieira reacting to and kicking an Everton pitch invader, my first thought was: ‘How stupid is this fan?’

If you knew Vieira as a player and a man, he is not going to let someone physically touch or insult him without doing anything back.

We all remember the iconic pictures of him and Roy Keane. If he is not scared of Keane, he will not be scared of some geezer running up and swearing in his face.

The reactions online were about Vieira getting in trouble but why are we missing the point that the fan was in HIS face.

Players and managers are meant to be role models but they are also human beings. In normal life, if someone pushes you on the street, there is a good chance you will react.

Vieira is no different, regardless of the money he earns or the sport he is involved in.

We are in a weird space right now where the victim is seen as the problem, more than the person who is actually the problem.

The stewarding also has to be looked at. You don’t want the stewards to put themselves in danger but it feels like right now that if you want to walk on to a pitch, you can.

What will it take for that to change? A player to react and a supporter gets seriously hurt?

That player would end up getting punished, and maybe a prison sentence, and then people will wake up and start talking about looking after players.

On the flip side, it could also lead to a player being killed, quite easily.

What happens if a player got stabbed? Then what? Is it still the player’s fault?

And when that happens, please don’t tell them they should have known better.

It could lead to a player being killed, quite easily. What happens if a player got stabbed?

Troy Deeney

I am pretty sure if I had been attacked on a pitch, I wouldn’t be talking to you now. Of course, there are people who have tried it but they just want a reaction.

I was talking to my missus about it yesterday morning over breakfast while on holiday.

She said that she would be genuinely worried if that was me because she knows what I would do.

If you put your hands on me I will act in self-defence. I am not posting a picture about it.

But that is all these fans want — 15 minutes of fame and millions of views on social media. The mad thing is, they will probably end up getting paid for that footage.

And without the right punishment, it simply encourages people to keep putting these videos on social media and the next person will want to top it.

They will think: “Well I am going to knock out two players this time” or “I’ll stab one”. That’s the danger. Where does it stop?

The reason they do it is because they are not scared of the consequences, so there have to be real repercussions.

If you run on to a pitch and the fine is, for instance, £5,000, how many of the thousands of people from that Everton game who invaded the pitch are really going to get that fine?

Let’s start enforcing that properly to act as a proper deterrent. But, because there have been no or little consequences, what will they do next time? Stay on a bit longer?

It is really simple. Give someone a punishment they are worried about and they won’t do it.

I don’t think the FA or Prem will go down the points deduction route, nor do I think they should go back to thinking about putting barriers or screens up around the stands.

We have seen in the past that has the potential to have catastrophic results.

We don’t want to be pushed back down that road.

Yet it is crazy to think Brentford are having to organise the biggest police presence for a home game in their history against Leeds this weekend.

It feels like we are going back to the late 80s early 90s where hooliganism and thuggery is now the normal. I thought we had moved past that?

Clearly not.