I have been going to away games since I was a kid and now in my mid 30s.
It has never been perfect - I remember a fan threatening me after I called out his racist abuse of beni Mccarthy years ago. It was always horrible at Liverpool - a mix of Boro fans chanting about poverty in Liverpool (ridiculous from Teessiders) racism against the Spanish contingent and generally fans there for a **** up in the city and not the football.
I'm no angel, but also think fans as a whole need to start calling out behaviour. One voice calls it out - they are likely to end up with a fist to the face (I was told to it was to risky to speak out a number of times over the years).
It may not be what everyone wants - but I want an atmosphere where first and foremost everyone (young, old, disabled, male, female, gay, straight, and all races) can enjoy watching the football.
If you want to have a gang that goes gets off their heads and shouts abuse at lads from other towns - do that away from the football.
The idea that this was always the case is not true - it developed from the 60s to the 80s had a significant improvement in the 90s when football became more welcoming. Now some people are longing for the point that football was 90 percent youngish men.