ANY hooligans arriving in the region for England's football clash with Turkey tonight will not be allowed to run riot as they did in Switzerland at the weekend.

Thousands of fans from both sides are pouring into Sunderland today and will be at the Stadium of Light for the crucial Euro 2004 qualifier.

The match day commander, Superintendent Jim Campbell of Northumbria Police, promised last night that there would be no repeat of the scenes in Switzerland on Saturday, when English thugs clashed with police in Zurich and also in Vaduz, the capital of the tiny state of Liechtenstein.

Swiss police opened fire with rubber bullets as scuffles broke out. Three England fans were shot and two were stabbed in clashes in Zurich.

"This will be no Switzerland," he said. "Our style is very different to that on the Continent. They tend to sit back and only act when the situation reaches critical mass. We make more proactive intervention - and that doesn't mean officers going in heavy handed.

"It could just be an officer going up to an individual and warning them that, if they carry on, they are likely to be arrested. That can often be enough to deal with the problem."

Durham's Assistant Chief Constable, Ron Hogg, seconded to the Association of Chief Police Officers to oversee security for England matches, warned after Switzerland that a new generation of hooligans was emerging. But Supt Campbell said their cards were already marked.

"If they are intent on causing violence, they will be with known groups and we will be watching them very carefully."

He played down rumours that political differences could lead to violence between Sunderland's Iraqi Kurd asylum seekers and the Turkish fans.

"We have liaised with various communities in Sunderland, such as asylum seekers and we have got nothing back to suggest there will be any problems."

He also scotched reports elsewhere that as many as 4,000 officers would be on duty and said the figure would be somewhere between 300 and 600.

"We have more than ample resources to deal with any eventuality," he said