The Czechs were taking no chances, readying police on foot, on horseback and in helicopters to deal with the expected influx of about 6,000 England fans. They planned to have English speaking “anti-conflict units” on patrol, and the support of 11 trouble-spotters from British police forces. The riot units were on standby, and there was talk of a “zero tolerance” approach.

There are some who feel this form of policing can be counterproductive. Certainly, whenever trouble stirs involving England fans — and that is separate from English fans, because Premier League clubs now travel around Europe largely without incident — there is a tendency to suggest that the strong-arm tactics of the local authorities have exacerbated the problem, rather than defused it, and the argument has some merit.

And yet that does not really confront the issue, just as the inclination to blame a “minority” of troublemakers who are not “true” England fans, whatever that means, is nothing more than a deflection. The local police, like the British police who advise them, like the F.A., like Southgate, like the official fan clubs, are generally doing their best, or what they perceive as their best.

They are, certainly, not the root of the problem. That blame lies squarely with the section of England fans who see the opportunity to travel to a European city as a chance for invasion, who treat an airport as a gateway to an anything-goes stag party, who put on a replica jersey and feel compelled to live up to the stories they have seen and heard about the bloodstained hooligan glory days of the 1970s and ’80s.