'Animalistic' thugs who brought 'terror' to city slammed as fans clashed in 'disgraceful' scenes ahead of United game

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Football thugs brought ‘terror’ to the streets as rival fans clashed in ‘disgraceful’ scenes ahead of a Manchester United game.

Fans of United and bitter rivals Leeds United clashed in Manchester city centre ahead of a crunch Premier League fixture. Six of those involved have been hauled before a judge for their part in the ugly scenes prior to the match.

There were ‘running battles’, with chairs and bins being used as weapons. The manager of a nearby Cafe Nero shut its doors after being ‘horrified’ at what she was witnessing on a busy Saturday morning.

Other businesses were forced to close for the day because of the disorder. A number of those who faced justice were told they had come ‘very close’ to being sent to prison. READ MORE: Brutal footage of officer kicking man in head at Manchester Airport surfaces as cops issue statement “This was a disgraceful episode,” Judge Nicholas Dean KC told them during a sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court. “It is an episode that brings shame on you, and shame on the football club that you purport to support. “Rivalry, indeed enmity between Manchester United and Leeds United is well known to be long standing, and gave rise to violence certainly in the 1970s and 1980s when most of you were very young. “It had largely dissipated or disappeared.