the problem with facebook is it is crawling with feds. They are often on there with their real names and even with their families linked, and not just bobbies but Detective Chief Inspectors and similar ranks. Cops today are smarter than before (in bad economic times smart people who might not have thought of joining the constabulary often do do). They would not use a social network in that manner if they did not feel safe on there.

These cops can’t however tell if a facebook threat is an empty one or if it will lead to genuine violence, as it has happened and there is a trend of internet trolls starting off online and going on to commit serious violence including GBH and murder.

Folk around my age grew up in the times when many would go to the matchground for a fight, and sometimes a game of football might break out.

So cops have to take every one of these threats seriously, and as a football match is a perfectly legal but regulated activity they will fill it with even more spotters and other cops; and you pay for those in your ticket prices.

In the squats me and this German dude who was slso into electronics would haul out small loudspeakers from busted tellies and hi fis and wire them up to communal areas in the squat. one back would be fed with the local radio commentary of the match, the second with from the radio scanner tuned to the frequency of TVP Silver Command (special channel for the football match policing). So everyone would get two lots of entertainment (the spotters/cops chasing hooligans was often more exciting than the football itself).