Sunderland AFC used to be noted for football hooliganism. At the end of the 1999–2000 season, Sunderland topped the hooliganism table in the Premier League, with 223 fans arrested that season. [7] Altercations with the Newcastle Gremlins [ edit ] Supt Steve Neill said:”It is Northumbria Police’s aim that all genuine fans attending football matches in the North East are able to enjoy the day and participate in supporting their teams in a safe and friendly environment.

The 37-year-old, of Broom Hill, Stanley, County Durham, has now been banned along with brother Bryan. It goes on to detail how a PC at the Seven Stars watched as trouble unfolded between the Stoke group and the Toon thugs who arrived to fight them.The statement added: “Police believe this was organised violence between Newcastle United and Stoke City risk supporters. Watson and his associates had travelled to Teesside despite not planning to attend the match and the Cleveland Police chief inspector who led the operation on the day said this showed he was involved in planned organised violence. Young was pictured hiding his face with a Burberry scarf and the pair were then among a group who assembled at the Belle Vue pub, Durham Road, Gateshead, in the lead-up to trouble at the nearby Seven Stars. One of the leading members of the Gremlins, John Sharp, 39, is a former Royal Navy diver and veteran of the Falklands war. He’d be posting invites to people to come around and ‘play on his x-box and have a drink with him’.

At the final whistle, fighting broke out at the front of the segregation lines between the rival sets of supporters and there was a surge of Newcastle fans from the middle tier of the seating area as a number tried to run forward and get to the trouble. Montgomery answers ‘. . . but the one that stands out in my mind came during the 2000/1 season when we played Sunderland at the Stadium of S****. The police had decided that everyone had to go on free buses from St James’s but a lot of people came out of retirement that day, so we ended up taking a mob of 250 on the train. From the outset, it was an unusual case. "It was unusual for a criminal investigation to have people from so many walks of life," he says. "No one admitted it, and, when we got to court, both sides gave evidence to assist each other. But they always turned up for bail, and not one failed to attend a court appearance.It adds: "Bryan Hird can be then seen to gesture with his left hand and apparently shout ‘come on’ towards the Sunderland fans. He then appears to mouth the words ‘ ****ing ******s’."