Jack Grealish punch: Neville, Shearer lead calls for Birmingham to suffer severe sanctions after pitch invader incident

Former England stars Alan Shearer and Phil Neville have led calls for severe punishments – including points deductions – following a spate of pitch invasions at British football games.

Rangers captain James Tavernier was confronted at Hibernian’s Easter Road last week, while Chris Smalling was shoved by an invader who then joined Arsenal’s players in celebrating their second goal.

But events at St Andrew’s, where Birmingham City hosted rivals Aston Villa in the Championship, left the footballing world shocked.

Villa star Jack Grealish was left floored after he was punched by a Birmingham fan who made his way on to the pitch. The Villa midfielder had the last laugh, however, as he went on to score the only goal in a 1-0 win for his team.

And Neville, writing for BBC Sport, pleaded with authorities to punish clubs as well as individuals.

READ MORE: Players fear for their safety after Jack Grealish punched during derby
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“Drastic action is needed – either through points deductions or by emptying stadiums and making clubs play behind closed doors,” said the manager of the England Women’s team.

“It cannot be a sufficient deterrent [individual punishments], because it keeps on happening, and my worry is that it is going to take an incident where a player is stabbed or seriously hurt before things change.

“What has happened in the past few days has highlighted the size of the problem, but I actually think things have been getting worse for a while and the situation should be a major concern for the clubs and the governing bodies.”

‘Come down like a ton of bricks’

Former England striker Alan Shearer, writing in the Sun, added that player safety is not being taken seriously enough.

The Match of the Day pundit called for the harshest punishments possible, with no sanction ‘strong enough’.

He said: “There has to be the right message here. Come down like a ton of bricks on Birmingham and punish so-called fans where it hurts, with bans and fines.

“It just proves we have a real problem. The authorities have to stamp it out now.”

Former Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, added: “It’s going to take something, that’s going to cause a big, big scene in football, that’s going to make people really stand up.

“Why do we need to wait for that to actually happen before someone gets really hurt? Imagine Jack’s family sitting at the side and thinking about what could possibly have happened.”

‘Racist abuse, anti-semitism, now this’

Meanwhile Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor said the attack on Grealish was ‘disgraceful’ and ‘cowardly’.

He has called on the Football Association to work with the government, police and stewards at the grounds to help stamp out such incidents.

“We have seen an increase in such behaviour at clubs this season. It’s been racist abuse, it’s been anti-semitism and now it’s real fear for the safety of players,” Taylor told Sky Sports News.

“From that point of view, we had a meeting just the other week with the Minister for Sport about engaging on this issue between the police and the stewards, which is crucial, and the responsibility of clubs about trying to get the right balance between educating supporters but also having sanctions to make sure we put a lid on it because we’ve been down this road before and we don’t want to go there again and see the game threatened.”

When asked about what sanctions could be implemented, Taylor said: “There’s a combination you can consider – fines, ground closures, playing games behind closed doors and points deductions. Every case needs to be looked at on its merits but it has to be a job for the national association.”