st georges day 2005 please read

[john]

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[Old Albion]

Taken from a Leicester paper March 15 2005, 7:52 AM


CITY FANS IN NIGHT OF VIOLENCE
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Leicester City fans have been involved in a night of violence in Blackpool.


Busy pubs were forced to close their doors and bar staff were injured as gangs clashed in the resort.

Police today said followers of Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers were involved in the trouble on Saturday night.

Wolves played at Preston on Saturday afternoon, while City played at Blackburn in the quarter-final of the FA Cup yesterday.

One landlord described the scene as "hell on earth", while another said the clashes appeared to have been prearranged.

The disturbance began in The Manchester pub, on Blackpool Promenade, at about 6.30pm on Saturday. Police were called to the venue after fighting broke out.

Landlord Wally Bishop said: "It all happened very suddenly. Two members of the bar staff were injured and we had to call in police to deal with the trouble. It was very bad. I decided to close the pub.

"I have heard of at least two other pubs which were damaged by the same group.

"This appears to have been pre-arranged. The people involved appeared to be in touch with each other by mobile phone."

Dave Dailey, landlord at Cahoots in Market Street, described the scene in Blackpool town centre as "hell on earth."

He said: "Landlords were in touch with each other using the radio link system.

"We were trying hard to keep these people out of our premises, but it was very hard. My door staff were able to prevent them from entering the pub, but other establishments were not so lucky.

"There appeared to be fights breaking out across the town. It was hell on earth.

"You could tell they were football supporters. Some of them were wearing replica shirts, while others were chanting."

Sgt Em Pritchard, of Lancashire police, confirmed fans from Leicester and Wolverhampton had clashed on Saturday night.

The force's undercover hooligan 'spotters' feared the groups would contact each other to arrange flashpoints, but it is not clear whether the clashes were orchestrated.

Sgt Pritchard said: "Intelligence had suggested around 200 Leicester City fans arrived in the town and that Wolves fans would be here later, but we did not know numbers. There were problems but we had lots of patrols out."

He confirmed a number of arrests were made and on-the-spot fines handed out but could not be sure how many Leicester people were involved