Racist abuse, fan violence, attacks on players -- on the face of it, English football seems to be experiencing a return to the dark days that led to its clubs being banned from Europe in the 1980s.

One respected English newspaper declared the sport to be "toxic" and "spinning out of control" following Sunday's tumultuous Manchester derby.

"Disturbing ... deplorable ... unacceptable" was how Football Association chairman David Bernstein described the pitch invasion, coin throwing, allegations of racist abuse and 13 arrests made during and after United's 3-2 victory at City.

That the Premier League's two leading clubs could be involved in such a poor advert for one of the world's most popular and lucrative sporting competitions has led many to question its leaders.

The headlines point to a descent back down the slippery slope that resulted in the 1989 Hillsborough and 1985 Heysel stadium tragedies. The latter occurred when fighting fans at the European Cup final caused a crush that killed 39 supporters of Italian club Juventus.

English team Liverpool was also involved at Hillsborough, where 96 people died during an FA Cup match -- an independent review this year found that the fatal crush was caused by the way British police penned rival fans into small enclosures as part of its anti-hooliganism strategy.

But there is another view to counter this week's media hysteria -- namely that football is only now facing up to realities deep at the heart of its foundations to which society has turned a blind eye for years.

What's more, this could be a vital turning-point in trying to eradicate behavior that would not be tolerated in everyday life.

"Previously there were behaviors that we have just passed off as 'Ah, that's football,' " said Clarke Carlisle, chairman of the English Professional Footballers' Association.

"Aggressive behavior in crowds, aggressive chanting, throwing things onto the pitch, certain levels of abuse -- people have been all too happy to say 'It's at a football match,' " he told CNN.