SORRY to start the season on a serious note, but scanning the list of Hibs' pre-season friendlies, the names Cardiff City and Leeds United caused great excitement... in the minds of hooligans in Edinburgh, Wales and Yorkshire.

All that was missing was Millwall, then we could have staged the Champions League of posturing and paggering on our doorstep.

The wisdom in arranging games between our club, who like it or not, have a reputation (albeit a dwindling one) for past troubles, and other teams who attract the most notorious of followings south of the Border, has proved a hot topic on the message boards of the Hibees websites this summer.

There have been some who - naively in my opinion - insist that the violent actions of a misguided minority should not be allowed to interfere with a football match, that clubs should be allowed to play who they like, when they like, and should not be held hostage by the hoolies. Me? I think it's just asking for trouble.

I'm writing this 48 hours BEFORE the visit of Leeds, but with a minimum of 3,500 fans destined to arrive in the city from England, I will eat Grumpy Gibby's hat if there hasn't been some serious bother before, during or after the match.

I'm not suggesting Leeds fans should all be tarred with the same brush, but like most clubs they have their fair share of idiots intent on mayhem, and it is nigh guaranteed that those clowns will have had the trip north ringed on their calendar from the day the fixture was announced.

That has certainly been the reaction in Edinburgh. Every casual, active or dormant, has been talking about this game for weeks, and although the threat of organised trouble has largely disappeared from domestic fixtures, it's the one-off games against teams from England (and Wales) that give them an adrenaline rush and a chance to relive what, in their minds, was some halcyon era.

The Cardiff game was fixed up at a week's notice, and with Tony Mowbray desperately needing some decent calibre opposition to hone his team before the start of the SPL season, Hibs weren't in a position to be too choosy. But Cardiff? Surely somewhere, if not in the control room of Lothian Borders Police, then in the boardroom at Easter Road, alarm bells should have been ringing. Hibs v Cardiff equals trouble.

While there were no major incidents, there were still sporadic outbreaks of fighting, the most visible being a brief flashpoint outside the Albion Bar where the two dozen or so of the 'Soul Crew' who had made the trip had gathered - presumably picking the pub nearest the ground to make some sort of defiant gesture.

Inside the ground, pockets of eejits gathered in the corners of the ground to goad what was a threadbare Cardiff support, and then we were subjected to the one halfwit (who I am reliably informed is, in fact, a Rangers fan) running on to the pitch and taunting the Welsh fans after we scored our first goal. The point I am trying to make is: would all this nonsense have happened against a team with a 'cleaner' reputation? It probably would have been ten time's worse if Cardiff had been given more notice of the game, and for that we can be thankful.

Leeds have had plenty notice, though, and while I hope by the time you're reading this, the Leeds game has passed off peacefully, with both sets of supporters praised for their good behaviour, I strongly doubt it.

If football should always come first, then why have the Scotland-England games been shelved? It's because certain fixtures between certain teams act as a magnet to a certain minority of a certain mentality.

I was down at Millwall 15-odd years ago (as a scarf-wearing fan) and the scenes we witnessed at that match were proof that what happens on the pitch between two well-meaning clubs will always be overshadowed by off-the-pitch antics when two teams with a hooligan element collide. True, that game took place at the height of the 'Casuals' problem, but it would be nice to think that a lasting lesson was learned that people's safety should come before some poxy, meaningless pre-season friendly. And before I'm accused of over-dramatising, I was attacked myself and one of my scarf-wearing mates ended up with a broken nose when Millwall decided to smack any Hibs fan in sight after seeing liberties taken on their manor (my sincere apologies for lapsing into clichéd casual-speak).

The bottom line is there are plenty other teams to play out there without inviting trouble to Easter Road. Or would you prefer we put it to the test by cordially inviting Millwall to visit us next summer?

Hibs, together with the police, should, just for once, employ a bit of common sense, then we can at least apply the word "friendly" to relations between the fans at these games, even if the players decide to kick lumps out of each other.