The build-up to the match promised a carnival atmosphere - Rangers in a European final was a rarity and the tens of thousands of fans who packed the stadium were determined to make the most of it. With the sun shining and Scottish football in the ascendancy after a long period of underachievement, there was a sense of expectancy.

Yet before the final whistle had blown, things had started to go wrong. With Rangers losing, their drunk fans became restive. Booing and bottle-throwing began.

Vehicles were overturned as police moved in to quell the violence. Arrests were made and what began as a festival of football became another example of Scotland's shame.

This was not last week in Manchester - it was 47 years ago in Glasgow when Rangers played Fiorentina in the first finalof the European Cup Winners' Cup. Plus ça change, as they say in France, although it's doubtful the French will be volunteering to host a football match involving Rangers any time soon.

Last week's UEFA Cup final prompted the kind of scenes most Scots thought had been consigned to the bank of bad 1970s memories, along with the three-day week and Ford Capris. Not since the days of inebriated fans with feather cuts and flares collapsing the Wembley posts and baton wielding mounted police charging across the Hampden turf has Scotland been so shamed.

It should have been an occasion to cherish. Instead, it will be remembered for feral gangs of fans in pitched battles with riot police, cars being trashed, shops smashed and looted, terrified residents cowering in the face of the mindless, rampaging onslaught. A Russian fan was stabbed six times, lucky to escape alive.

However, the defining image of the evening will be the sight of braying, primal louts descending on PC Mick Regan like a “pack of wolves”, raining kicks and blows on his head and body without mercy or heed for his life.

That he didn't suffer more serious injury was down only to luck and determination to escape. Witness John Spencer watched a group of Rangers fans attack a car as the female occupant cowered inside.

“They were kicking and punching to try and get the windows in,” he said. “They were ripping off her wing mirrors and she was terrified. I was concerned that if they got into the car they could have seriously injured or killed her.”

Donna McNeill, 22, a bar worker at Manchester's Waldorf hotel, said: “They were banging around, screaming and helping themselves to the beer. At one stage we stopped serving because it was getting out of hand, but they turned round and said you better serve us or we'll turn the place over and trash the pub.

As the dust settled in Manchester city centre and the broken glass and empty beer cans were swept up, politicians and club officials were quick to condemn the “minority”.

They were not genuine Rangers fans, officials insisted, but had attached themselves to the club. Gordon Brown branded the rioters a “disgrace” and Rangers chairman David Murray pledged to weed out the troublemakers and ban them from Ibrox.

However, there are those who claim the events of last week merit more than condemnation and promises of swift action. They think the Glasgow club has a problem with hooliganism and sectarianism which has not been addressed and, until it is, there is the risk of such events being repeated.

What was not explained is who are the troublemakers, if not Rangers fans? From where did they emerge and who do they represent? And crucially, why was there no intelligence to stop them showing up in Manchester and turning the city into a war-zone?

Rangers have a track record of similar behaviour when playing abroad - their last European final in Barcelona in 1972, which they won, was marred by fans invading the pitch and fighting running battles with Spanish police.

Disorder occurred at Rangers games in Wolverhampton and Newcastle during the 1960s. Four years after their European success, the club's fans were involved in a riot in Birmingham following a friendly against Aston Villa.

“Historically, Rangers fans have caused problems when they have travelled to games in England, there's a track record,” says Bert Moorhouse, a sociologist at Glasgow University and an expert on football hooliganism.

“Different generations of football fans are not the same people but a way of behaving gets passed down.”

There has been no serious public disorder at matches involving the Scotland national team for the past 30 years and the Tartan Army is now welcomed throughout the world.

During the same period, English fans gained a reputation as some of the most violent in the world, clashing with police in Sweden in 1992 and France in 1998. In 1995 a friendly match between England and Ireland in Dublin was abandoned because of crowd trouble and during Euro 2000, 800 England fans were arrested following riots in Charleroi, Belgium.

Professor Eric Dunning, who has written four books on football hooliganism, said: “In recent years Scottish supporters have taken it upon themselves to behave better when abroad because they wanted to look better than the English.

“However, Rangers have a long history of hooliganism. The Billy Boys were the first football hooligan gang.

“I think what we saw the other night is the continuation of an old problem.”

He added: “I think it is a myth to say that football hooliganism is not still going on in Scotland. It is just less obvious now as it happens away from the grounds and doesn't attract the media coverage that it once did.”

DESPITE the ongoing Old Firm rivalry, Celtic appears to have made greater strides in banishing hooliganism. The last time its supporters were involved in serious disorder was during a match at Burnley in 1978.

When the club reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2003, 80,000 fans travelled to Seville to watch the match against Porto. Despite the Glasgow side losing 3-2 after extra time, there was no crowd trouble and the club won a fair play award for the behaviour of their fans.

Dougie Brimson,a former football hooligan turned author, was with a group of Zenit St Petersburg supporters at the Rangers match.

“I think the Rangers fans were so determined to make it bigger and better than the Celtic fans did in Seville,” he said.

“One of the great tragedies is that the Tartan Army, who worked so hard to turn round their reputation and are now welcomed wherever they go, will be damaged by this.

“It just shows that the mindset of some people who follow football has not changed and hooliganism still exists. It's largely invisible now compared with 20 years ago because of the policing surrounding games, but all things associated with the scene - the clothes, the hatred, the travel - are still there and it can still kick off.”

Nil by Mouth,the antisectarian pressure group, said it was concerned that bigoted chants could clearly be heard from a section of the Rangers support, undermining the club's attempts to eliminate the problem.

“The evidence over the course of this season is clear that bigotry remains a significant problem in Scottish football and far too many incidents are being left unchallenged,” said a spokesman.

Because of the scenes of disorder, plans to erect open-air screens in Manchester for fans to watch this week's Champions League final have been cancelled. A proposed victory parade, if Manchester United defeat Chelsea, has also been scrapped.

While nobody condones the behaviour of the hooligans, there has been criticism of the city council for failing to prepare properly for the arrival of such a large number of fans and to allow them to continue drinking throughout the day.

Jim Templeton, president of the Rangers Assembly, which represents supporters at club board meetings, said there was a hardcore element which followed the club, but he insisted the majority of fans were well behaved.

He said: “Like every big club, Rangers has an element of support that the club would not want to be affiliated with.

“These people might call themselves Rangers supporters but they are not. They are nothing short of animals.”

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