those clad lads have always been part of our support as far back as i can remember ( fred perry and sta-press on the Topside anyone ?), shit, when i was 15 i was probably one of them
i've always seen them around at the big days out - OT, Copenhagen, Paris, Cardiff etc where there's plenty of tickets.
most are harmless and will eventually get a few smacks due to the law of averages and will grow up or get arrested - same thing for many
if anything, i think there was more years back than there is now - and the rise of 'ching' at games i think coincided with the ban on smoking, at least it did in the Clockend...
I don't think i've seen any of the proper chaps from the old days at a game since at least 2002, and i only noticed them because of their well known girlfriends.
c1