Arsenal fan cleared after Celtic fans racist taunts

A 20-year-old man accused of stabbing two Celtic fans outside the Houses of Parliament has walked free from court.

Nicholas Marshall was accused of knifing Sean Laverty in the stomach following a confrontation at a bus stop ahead of a Champions League match in London. Mr Laverty suffered a lacerated liver and severe internal bleeding following the incident, while fellow Hoops fan Henry McIver also sustained a hand injury in the struggle.

Marshall fled the scene pursued by more travelling supporters of the Glasgow club, but was tracked down after he dropped his wallet at the scene. Following a week-long trial at Southwark Crown Court, Marshall was acquitted of wounding with intent, after he told jurors he had been "scared" of the rowdy Scottish fans.

Mr Laverty had driven to London with his father Dennis and two friends on August 26 last year to watch the second leg of Celtic's Champions League qualifying round tie against Arsenal. The group spent the day drinking in the area around Trafalgar Square.

Shortly after 6pm, they headed to Whitehall, near Parliament Square, to catch a bus to a pub where they planned to watch the game. Marshall arrived at the bus stop shortly afterwards on his way home from his work as a warehouse assistant packing sunglasses for delivery around the UK.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a struggle break out before the defendant appeared to pull a knife from his bag and stab Mr Laverty in the stomach. Marshall told the jury that the Celtic fans and Mr Laverty in particular had been aggressive and racist towards him as he minded his own business, surrounding him and calling him a "black c***".

He said he grabbed a large pair of scissors he used to cut bubble-wrap at work out of his bag and waved it around to ward them off. He said: "I was scared. I felt punches and kicks. I thought I was going to get stabbed."

Marshall said he had waved the scissors around, but did not realise he had made contact with either Mr Laverty or Mr McIver. The jury took less than two hours to find him not guilty.

Marshall, of Waterway Avenue, Lewisham, had denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and unlawful wounding throughout his trial.

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/186673-20-year-old-cleared-of-stabbing-celtic-fans-in-london/

Girl injured as Celtic fans battle

Two fans in court after fights and flair incident at Celtic friendly with Lincoln City

A CELTIC fan was hit by a flare as she watched the Hoops play Lincoln City in a pre-season friendly.
The incident was one of several flashpoints during and after the match, which resulted in 20 arrests.
Two Scots fans, Stuart Stanley, 32, of Uddingston, Lanarkshire, and Adam Pollock, 24, of Pollok, Glasgow, were held in custody over the weekend.
They were charged with fighting in the street and freed on bail yesterday.
Both will appear at Lincoln magistrates court on August 17.
Five fans, including the girl, were injured as a result of the violence. All went to hospital but were released after treatment.
Local police said a St George's flag was set on fire outside the Golden Cross pub before the match and tensions were heightened by pro-IRA chants.
A smoke grenade was set off.
After the game, which Celtic won 4-1, there were a number of fights involving rival fans.
Of the 20 arrests, 12 were locals and eight were visiting supporters.
More than 1000 Celtic fans travelled south for the match at the Sincil Bank Stadium on Saturday.
Football intelligence officer PC Andy Pearson said: "There was some disorder at the Golden Cross pub and some after the match.
"A lot of that came from the inflammatory nature of the songs from Celtic fans. Many of the incidents were fuelled by alcohol.
"We will be seeking banning orders for those arrested."
Before the match, police had to deal with a fight between two Celtic supporters in the city and a separate brawl in the away end of the ground.
During the game, a number of flares and smoke canisters were set off in the stadium.
There were further problems outside the Golden Cross where five of the arrests were made.
Af terwards officers were called to several fights on the lower end of the High Street where rival supporters clashed.
Lincoln City, who are in England's League Two, are managed by ex-Celtic striker Chris Sutton.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/celtic/2010/07/27/two-fans-in-court-after-fights-and-flair-incident-at-celtic-friendly-with-lincoln-city-86908-22443260/

Four charged after violence at Celtic friendly in Lincoln

Violence: Some members of the Celtic support clashed with each other prior to the Lincoln game Pic: © SNS Group


Two Celtic followers from Glasgow have been charged with affray after violence flared at the Glasgow club’s friendly with Lincoln at the weekend.

Stuart Stanley, 32, and 24-year-old Adam Pollock were both remanded in custody after they were charged with fighting in the street. On Monday morning, they were both released on bail and are expected to appear at Lincoln Magistrates Court to enter a plea on August 17. They were among 20 fans who were arrested in connection with violence before, during and after Celtic’s 4-1 over Lincoln on Saturday.

A statement from Lincolnshire Police said 12 of the 20 who were arrested were from the Lincoln area. The remaining eight were described by the force as ‘visitors’, who are understood to have been from Scotland. The police say there were a number of problems in various locations across Lincoln after Celtic supporters arrived in the city.

In particular, there was trouble around the Golden Cross pub in the city’s High Street. Two Celtic supporters were also arrested for fighting each other near Lincoln’s Sincil Bank stadium. There was also a fight in the Celtic end of the of stadium before the game kicked off.

During the match, police said a number of flares and smoke canisters were set off. One girl in the Celtic end was injured by one of those flares. There was also further problems at the Golden Cross during the game, where five people were arrested.

Following the match, police say there were a number of fights on the lower end of the High Street where rival supporters clashed. Further arrests were made on the High Street in the vicinity of The Millers Arms and Ritz Phase. In total, five people were taken to hospital, including the girl injured by the flare.

Mr Stanley, whose address was given in court as Calderbrace Avenue, and Mr Pollock, of Blackstone Crescent, were charged along with Jason Dumphreys, 40, from Lincoln, and Benjamin Mole, 24, from Bassingham. Mr Dumphreys and Mr Mole were both charged with other public order offences.

The remaining 16 people who were arrested have been bailed while police carry out further enquiries.

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/188496-four-charged-after-violence-at-celtic-friendly-in-lincoln/

Child burned by Celtic Hooligans

Delcot Daily Times

Published: Thursday, July 15, 2010
By CINDY SCHARR, cscharr@delcotimes.com

CHESTER – Three diehard Celtic FC fans allegedly set off flares in the middle of a packed PPL Park Wednesday night, sending flames shooting into the air and endangering those around them, police said.

Flames from the flares could be seen shooting up from the middle of the crowd during the final minutes of the match.

“These guys decided to come down here and be fools,” said Chester Police Major Joseph Bail. “It was a mixture of childish behavior and brown bottle courage.”

The three were with a group of Celtic fans who traveled by bus to the Chester stadium from New York for the game against the Philadelphia Union, police said.

Sitting in the middle of the stadium, they set off larger railroad-type flares, Bail said.

“One kid had a burn on his arm, the other had a burn on the back of his shirt,” Bail said. “Luckily no one else was burned.”

One of the hooligans was very cooperative and was released from custody.

The unnamed man will be receiving a non-traffic summons in the mail.

Criminal charges of persistent disorderly conduct and recklessly endangering others were filed against James Andrew Shields, 29, of the Bronx, and Kevin John Diamond, 33, of Queens.

Shields and Diamond were arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Robert Blythe, who set bail at 10 percent of $50,000. The two were waiting to be transferred to Delaware County prison Thursday afternoon.

Two other people were stopped outside of the stadium for scalping tickets. They were warned and the tickets confiscated.

Four charged over Lincoln City match disorder

Four men have been charged over disorder at Lincoln City's pre-season friendly with Celtic.

Flares and smoke canisters were discharged and several rival supporters clashed before, during and after Saturday's match at Sincil Bank.

Five people were injured, including a girl who was hit by a flare. They were treated in hospital.

The four men are charged with public order offences and are due before Lincoln magistrates later.

Twenty people were arrested in total, with the remainder released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Three fixed penalty notices were issued for public disorder offences.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-10759672

Disgraceful Celtic fans fight at friendly

Sadly, there were utterly disgraceful scenes before the kick-off, when clearly drunken so-called fans in Celtic strips - mindless hoopigans, you might say - fought among themselves after one idiot let off a flare and others sang republican songs.

The police soon intervened, but the moronic actions of a few had spoiled the fun of the 3,780 crowd on Lincoln City's family day out.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Lincoln-City-1--4.6438582.jp

Celtic fans battle in Lincoln injuring young Girl

POLICE made 20 arrests following Lincoln City's much anticipated pre-season friendly with Celtic.

Trouble blew up in the lower part of the High Street following the match on Saturday, with both Imps and Hoops fans being arrested.

The arrests were for assault, public order offences and one for possession of a flare. As the Echo went to press no one had been charged.

The Echo heard from passers-by in the High Street that a St George's flag was burned outside the Golden Cross and later pro-IRA and anti-military songs could be heard.


Between 2,000 and 4,000 Celtic fans were expected to travel to the city from all corners of the UK, but the total attendance at Sincil Bank was just 3,780.

Dozens of police officers and riot vans were present for most of the day.

The game went largely without incident apart from flares being let off and a scuffle between Celtic fans.

Lincolnshire Police's football intelligence officer PC Andy Pearson said: "It's fair to say it was a challenging day.

"There was some disorder at the Golden Cross pub and some after the match and a lot of that was flared by the inflammatory nature of the songs from Celtic fans. Many of the incidents were fuelled by alcohol.

"Apart from an incident between Celtic fans there were no problems at the ground.

"There were quite a number of police resources deployed and we will be seeking banning orders for those people arrested.

"The majority of the disorder was kept away from the precinct and shoppers, which was a priority."

Earlier in the day, a sea of green flooded the High Street as fans drank at the Golden Cross and the Ritz.

Many of those had travelled from Glasgow to see their hero, Imps manager Chris Sutton.

Tony Clark, 23, of Clydebank, set off for Lincoln at 5am.

He said: "Chris Sutton is my hero and I wanted to see him waving goodbye to the Celtic fans because he never said goodbye.

Sutton is regarded as a Celtic legend having scored 63 goals in 130 appearances at Parkhead between 2000 and 2006.

The striker helped the Glasgow club win three Scottish Premier League titles, two Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups, but many supporters feel he was not given a proper send-off when he departed in early 2006.

Mark Rambo, 23, said: "Chris Sutton is a hero, that's why we are all here."

Charlie Creane, landlord of the Golden Cross, said: "The fans were here just singing and drinking and that's as far as they went.

"I was cleaning up and there were about six Celtic fans leaving when some local youths came up and started taunting them.

"My daughter got caught in the crossfire and got a gash on her head."

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/news/20-Imps-Hoops-fans-arrested-trouble-flares-pre-season-friendly/article-2453727-detail/article.html