FOOTBALL can bring out the best and the worst in people and Clarets fans who travelled to the New Den last weekend, particularly if they used the trains, will know exactly what I mean.

Millwall's former home at Cold Blow Lane was a ground that away supporters feared because of the pathways under dark rail bridges and the labyrinth of roads leading away from the ground.

Quite simply it was too easy to take one wrong turn and meet up with the East End's 'top boys' as they liked to dub themselves.

A new ground and seemingly easier access to the transport services should make the New Den a more comfortable trip, but that is reckoning without the brand of idiot that is peculiar to following Millwall Football Club.

While I am not so nave as to have the impression that football violence has vanished, as some sections of the media would have you believe, the scenes outside the New Den on Saturday were a sad throw-back to bygone years.

Massed Lions fans hurled abuse, bottles, cans and even drain covers at the police cordon that separated them from the Clarets fans being herded towards South Bermondsey station.

Up on the station the co-ordinators of the gangs below issued their orders to their lieutenants at street level by mobile phone as they sought to spot weaknesses in the police chain.

And these men were far from being teenage kids looking for a bit of excitement.

These were more your middle aged leaders of the East End manors, the whole scene was insidious and sickening.

It is so sad that this is how you get your kicks in South East London - even if you are heading for your pension.

And yet, just a short train ride and a few stops on the tube away, football was showing a quite different face to the world.

In the Shires pub on St Pancras Station supporters of the Clarets, West Ham, Derby County and Leicester City mixed easily and were happy to converse about all matters football with one another.

The banter was good-natured and the conversation intelligent as the Foxes fans gained most attention as they fretted over their dreadful start in the new Premiership campaign.

Really it just goes to show that football can serve different purposes to different people.

To the lovers of the game there is a camaraderie that surpasses mere regional rivalry, while for others the game is merely a focus for them to release their frustration and aggression by trying to beat up a few people they will never see again.

It makes you glad that these days Millwall's problems make them the exception rather than the rule.