THE new inquests into the Hillsborough disaster are rightly re-examining what went wrong 26 years ago when watching a football match was a very different experience.

But, although today's Premier League matches are played in modern all-seater arenas, we should guard against believing that the lessons of Hillsborough are only relevant to the past.

Former Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield told an inquest jury today that he "was probably not the best man for the job" when 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium in 1989.

With hindsight, he accepts he lacked the experience to manage such a major event, and had not received sufficient training. Too much was taken for granted and the consequences were tragic.

It is a message which should strike a chord following last Saturday's pitch invasion at Villa Park after Aston Villa's FA Cup victory over neighbours West Brom.

What experience and training did the match commander have that day for such disgraceful scenes to develop? How could a predictably volatile derby match be left with such inadequate stewarding and policing that crowds could swarm onto the pitch before the players had reached the safety of the dressing rooms.

Of course, we have come a long way since the Hillsborough disaster. Supporters could no longer be crushed into perimeter fencing in the way they were on that terrible day in 1989. Watching football is an altogether safer pastime.

Nevertheless, a crowd invasion in 2015, with fans breaking through paper-thin defences to run riot, is a worrying reminder that complacency is a very dangerous weakness.