Seven ways to restore sanity

Something must be done. That seems beyond doubt if future Arsenal-Manchester United games are to be prevented from degenerating further into the mire.

As yet there is no consensus on what concrete measures can be introduced to improve the atmosphere. But if the Football Association and Premier League are serious about the task, here are some pointers about what action they could take.

Dressing-room monitors

Specialist teams of officials could be introduced to help referees police dressing rooms and access areas.
This would help stop the kind of tunnel controversy that now regularly develops at the end of Arsenal-United matches.
Thankfully, not all Premiership games generate such enmity, but those that do would benefit from the presence of official observers checking and reporting misbehaviour in those tense minutes when players from both teams leave the pitch and retire to their dressing rooms.
Miscreants could be fined or suspended, just as they are for offences on the field.

Segregation at the end of games

Each side could be ordered to leave the pitch separately, thus cutting out potential flash points.
The referee and his linesmen are the last to leave the field at the end of a match and, although their jurisdiction stretches to the dressing rooms, they are often still shepherding players from the pitch when trouble develops.
Logically, the visiting team, in this case Arsenal, would depart first.
In the longer term the authorities might consider forcing clubs to build home and away dressing rooms in separate areas of the stadium.

Harsher punishment

There could be a sliding scale of punishments for badgering, pestering and complaining to referees.
On Sunday it was obvious from the start that both sides were intent on questioning every decision Mike Riley made. This creates an atmosphere of intimidation in which it must be extraordinarily difficult for an official to function effectively.

A foreign referee

The advantage of appointing an outsider is that he would arrive without the sort of baggage that accompanied Riley into Sunday's game. Much has been made of the fact that he has now awarded United eight penalties in eight visits to Old Trafford.