We were asked to give our reaction to Police Scotland figures of the number of arrests at Pittodrie during the 2016/17 season.

Of the 22 home games in domestic competition, there were 15 arrests – four of those arrested were from Aberdeen, the others from elsewhere in Scotland.

We believe that, given that football matches attract such a large volume of people into such an emotionally-charged environment, the numbers are remarkably low.

It would, however, be unfortunate if these statistics were seen as a win for the authorities. Football fans are subjected to disproportionate and unfair levels of scrutiny from police and stewards, whose often provocative actions and attitudes can exacerbate rather than placate. It could be suggested that a greater level of understanding from the authorities would lead to even fewer arrests.

More, this should be viewed as evidence that football fans are labelled unfairly, partly through ignorance but also by misconceptions built around the heavily-publicised actions of a minority and behaviours of past generations of supporters.