The recent unblemished reputation of Scottish football fans was in shreds yesterday after the rioting and violence by Rangers supporters that scarred Manchester during and after the Uefa Cup Final in the city on Wednesday.

Shocked politicians on both sides of the Border united in condemning the behaviour of the fans. Gordon Brown suggested that the drunken violence could even threaten the English Football Association's hope to stage the World Cup in 2018. The Prime Minister said: “I want to do everything to avoid us being in a position where we might be at risk of an application for the 2018 World Cup not being acceptable because of this.”

There was also speculation that the behaviour of Rangers fans at such a showpiece occasion could lead to action being taken against the club.

As Manchester started to clean up the hundreds of tonnes of rubbish and broken glass left by an estimated 150,000 Rangers fans, the final tally of arrests was put at 42.

One Russian fan was stabbed outside the stadium, 15 police officers were injured and ambulance crews dealt with 52 victims of assault in the city centre.

Mr Brown said: “What happened was a disgrace. It was a minority but it was completely unacceptable. They have good reason, both the police and the authorities, to be very angry.”

He promised that Wednesday's events could prompt a review of the laws on drinking in public places given that many involved in the violence had been drinking for several hours before the game.

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, called for a wider inquiry into the events than that pledged by the Manchester authorities, which is to focus on why a screen set up to show the game in the city centre did not work.

Mr Salmond said: “Everybody in Scotland will be anxious to co-operate to ensure that any lessons that can be learnt are learnt, and such scenes are not witnessed again.”

Manchester City Council defended its decision to allow fans to drink alcohol in the streets. Bars served alcohol from 10am and local shops selling alcohol opened at 7am - 12 hours before the start of the game.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of the city council, said: “Do you really think we were going to stop 100,000 plus Glaswegians wanting to have a drink? Trying to enforce that would have created a public order problem.”

Although the trouble involved only a small minority of the supporters who descended on Manchester, Rangers could face punishment.

It is only two years since the club was censured by Uefa over two incidents when they played Villarreal in the Champions League.

Rangers were fined £9,000 after fans broke a window of the Villarreal team bus in the second leg of the meetings, and another £13,300 for discriminatory chanting during both matches. It is not yet clear if Rangers will face fresh action from Uefa over Wednesday's rioting as it involved ticketless fans miles away from the stadium.

Kenny Scott, the Rangers security chief, insisted the club would take action against troublemakers. He said: “We have to identify anybody that was responsible for any of these acts of violence. The difficulty is of course that many of these people will have no association with Rangers.”

A Uefa spokesman told The Times that the body would consider referee reports and accounts from Uefa delegates who attended the match before taking any decision.

Raymond Boyle, an expert in the reporting of sport at the University of Glasgow's Centre for Cultural Policy, said the violence would be damaging not only to Rangers but also to the national game. “Once the footage of the trouble goes around the world the number of fans involved will be almost incidental,” he said. “The message will be that Rangers fans, and indirectly Scottish fans, caused trouble and that is what will be remembered.”

Martin Bain, the chief executive of Rangers, denounced those who took part in the rampage, but insisted that most were well behaved.

John MacMillan, the general secretary of the Rangers Supporters' Association, said: “There was no need for attacking paramedics and the police. It is indefensible.”

Rangers have cancelled a parade to welcome back the team to Glasgow as a mark of respect for Tommy Burns, the former Celtic player and manager, who died yesterday.

Manchester City Council has dropped plans to show next week's Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea on big screens in the city centre.

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