One of Britain's most prolific football hooligans who was accused of goading and abusing Manchester United fans has been banned from attending matches. Liam Newton, 32, has been on an MI6 watchlist of known troublemakers at West Ham games both in the UK and abroad since 2014, a court heard.
Hammers fan Newton was part of a group of so-called 'risk supporters' and caused chaos at nine different matches, with Manchester United, Birmingham City, Tottenham Hotspur and Middlesbrough as well as French team Lyon and German sides Schalke 04 and Frankfurt.
Giving evidence at Stratford Magistrates' Court this week, the self-employed engineer said verbal abuse between rival fans was 'commonplace' in Britain and 'that's just football unfortunately'.
