There are several areas of football which seem to be marked as ‘too difficult to change’ by the powers that be. In an ideal world, they would probably love to solve them, but the problem is they tend to require considerable effort. VAR as a concept is in desperate need of reform. The dominance of gambling companies in sponsorship. Racism. Sexism. The prevalence of drug-taking. After every well-publicised event that causes a scandal, the response tends to be limited to a few words. ‘We strongly condemn these actions.’ Then the news cycle moves on, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief because nothing had to be done to move on. No resources required, no meaningful changes made. Let’s just forget it ever happened. Until next time.

The recent predominance of ‘tragedy chanting’ fits very neatly into this category. I’m writing this a couple of weeks on from Leeds versus Manchester United, a match that forced the Premier League, and the two clubs, to release statements claiming they were treating tragedy chanting as ‘a matter of urgency’ after some very unsavoury songs were heard at Elland Road.

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