IMAGINE what it would have been like if Millwall DIDN'T win.

Picture the scenes after the final whistle, outside the ground, on the tube trains.

When the dust settles from Wembley, the abiding memory won't be of the great save to deny Billy Clarke, the late goal from Steve Morison or the pain etched on thousands of West Yorkshire faces.

Nope, the image that will dominate every recollection of the 2017 League One play-off final will be the swarming mob invading an area that should be sacrosanct.

"Some people are on the pitch," said Kenneth Wolstenholme famously on the day England were crowned champions of the world.

But that classic film from 1966 shows no evidence of over-excited supporters making a beeline for the West Germany manager and his team to rub defeat in their face.

Too many City fans returned north on Saturday night with unpleasant tales of being abused and intimidated.

These weren't lads looking for trouble themselves but families, young and old; being threatened by those who were apparently celebrating victory and promotion.

Again, just think of what it would have been like if Millwall had been on the wrong end of such a narrow defeat.

According to a press colleague, one security guy he spoke to said they were relieved with the result. If City had won, he claimed, "it would have gone off in a really bad way".

Pitch invasions happen at the end of every season – but never at Wembley.

And while some would have been swept up in the moment, you cannot ignore the menacing undercurrent of others.

The goading and taunting was there in Millwall's semi-final against Scunthorpe. We all saw the television footage of the 'fan' trying to film a reaction from an opposition player as he swore in his face.

Shamefully, the same thing was allowed to happen again to Stuart McCall and his players at the supposed home of football.

The authorities cannot turn a blind eye. Bland post-match statements offering condemnation and promising stiff action must be followed up this time.

But again, maybe we should be grateful that Millwall won. Otherwise it might have turned ugly.