"I looked around and saw pretty much every Spurs fans clapping along and joining in with it ... It's something we've really made our own, it's a collective term for our fans now. It's an accepted word for Spurs fans in the modern age."

Arrowsmith rejected the idea that Spurs fans' use of the term encourages anti-Semitism, saying that particular argument removes any responsibility from the abusers.

"It's a pretty weak argument," he said. "It's been compared to another argument which suggests if girls wear short skirts they're inviting bad things to happen to them.

"No Spurs fan goes to the game thinking 'if I chant the word Yid I'm going to incite some racial hatred'. No one goes to the game thinking they are going to get some racial abuse."

But British comedian and author David Baddiel disagrees.

"The idea that Spurs fans are reclaiming the Y-word and are entitled to because so many of them are Jewish is simply not true," said Baddiel, who is Jewish and a Chelsea fan, recently writing in the Daily Mail.

"There are only 250,000 Jews in Britain as a whole and I'd say about three or four per cent of Tottenham's crowd is Jewish.

"That means well over 90% of those chanting 'Yid Army' are not actually Jewish and that is just one of several reasons why it cannot be right."

Poisonous atmosphere

As the FA investigate what happened on Sunday, academic Clifford Stott called for England's governing body to deliver a reasoned response.

"The authorities need to respond by empowering the majority of those fans who aren't abusing other supporters,"said Stott, who has advised governments and police forces internationally on crowd management policy and practice.

"If the lessons of the past are anything to go by, solutions reside in working with fans' grassroots organizations to respond constructively to any criminal action that occurred. The key message is that an indiscriminate response is counterproductive.

"Don't forget there is already sufficient legislation to deal with anti-Semitic or racist chanting at football grounds

"Where this has happened then clearly it must be condemned and if the evidence exists for criminal sanctions to follow.

"But a knee-jerk response can escalate the problem and it is important to keep what happened in perspective."

Without attempting to excuse the actions of West Ham's fans, Stott explained how a unique set of circumstances had combined to create Sunday's poisonous atmosphere.

"Those chants -- inexcusable as they are -- followed the news about what happened in Rome and what the Society of Black Lawyers has been saying about the illegitimacy of Spurs fans' expression of their identity.

"In 12 months I doubt if and when this fixture is played again that those chants would be repeated."

Meanwhile, Herbert wants football's European governing body UEFA to use its regulations to empower referees in future to prevent a repeat of the abusive incidents that recently occurred in Serbia involving England's Under-21 team as well as Rome and north London.

"We'd like to see a proactive stance on this, a vigorous approach, prosecute where possible, ban people from grounds and if incidents like that do happen, call a halt to the game.

"There is a UEFA rule which is never used where a referee can call off the game. That's the sort of initiative which has to happen.

"Do you want to watch a football game or do you want to listen to this abuse?"