Thugs in station clash banned from matches

Pictured in our gallery below are the faces of 15 hooligans who have been banned from matches after trouble flared before an FA Cup match between Shrewsbury Town and Walsall FC.

See their photos below.

Gary Hotchkiss, pictured right, yesterday admitted a charge at Walsall Magistrates Court of using threatening abusive and insulting behaviour towards others with intent to cause those persons to believe unlawful violence would be used.

He was among a group of Shrewsbury supporters who clashed with rival fans at Tame Bridge Parkway Station on November 10 last year.

The incident was captured on CCTV as the groups headed for an FA Cup match between Shrewsbury Town and the Saddlers at Banks’s Stadium.

Mr Jason Corden-Bowen, prosecuting, said Hotchkiss, aged 26, was spotted on camera by British Transport Police during an altercation between rival fans. He initially denied the charge, but later changed his plea.

A total of 14 other supporters had already been dealt with by the courts in relation to the same incident before yesterday’s hearing.

Mr Corden-Bowen said the group caught a train from Birmingham city centre, escorted by police, where they had been drinking and got off at Tame Bridge before a confrontation with rival fans took place in the nearby Walsall Road.

The thugs involved how now been banned from British footie grounds for a total of more than 50 years between them.