Just a footnote on the women and football debate.

My wife was a season-ticket holder of long standing at the local club before I inconvenienced her Saturday afternoons by moving the family 200 odd miles north.

But it’s fair to say Mrs P has been to plenty of games (and quite a few bad ’uns) down the years.

So she took issue with a breakfast TV feature the other morning implying that football has never been female friendly. And, speaking from bitter experience, Mrs P taking issue is never a pretty sight.

The reporter grabbed a few fans outside the Crewe and City game. The agenda was clearly to prove that a chauvinistic attitude still exists in the stands.

Of course, he found one or two older guys happy to oblige. One gent of senior years was about to call women a “necessary evil” but checked himself just in time.

But, as my increasingly-irate wife pointed out, you’ll get that staid view in any walk of life.

From her own experience, football watching has never felt like “them and us”.

In fact, there has only been one occasion when she felt uncomfortable at a ground.

It was only a few weeks ago at another West Yorkshire club in the vicinity. Sitting in the away end, she was getting a bit worried because some of the locals thought it appropriate to lob a few coins.

But there was no discrimination. The idiots involved didn’t care if they hit men, women or children.

It wasn’t a sexist thing; just a few yobs and their anti-social shortcomings before the police moved them on.

Of course, football grounds could do with a few more ladies loos but all fans will have a moan about something, whether it’s the queue for the bars at half-time or the temperature of the pies.

Mrs P is no different to any other supporter. And she’d never want to be treated any other way.