‘Russian Ultras broke code of honour’ - Marriner

Britain’s most infamous football hooligan said Russian fans at this year’s Euros are worse than any he saw during years of fighting in the terraces with England and Chelsea.

Jason Marriner, a former member of the notorious Chelsea Headhunters gang, said British fans are being ‘ambushed on the terraces’ by Russians willing to attack innocent people.

“In England, you have a code and a bit of morals about yourself, and that’s not to kick people that’s on the floor and jump up and down on their heads,” he said. 

“I’ve been everywhere, England, Chelsea, but I’ve never seen innocent people getting ambushed. Over there you’ve seen everyone, people with their children with their wives, with their girlfriends.”

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning on Tuesday, the hooligan turned writer, who was jailed after a Michael MacIntyre investigation into violent Chelsea fans, was then cut off by presenter Philip Schofield.

Schofield sarcastically said: “Good to know there’s a code of conduct – don’t stamp on their heads when they’re down.”

Marriner was speaking after violent clashes between English and Russian fans as the two nations met in Marseille ahead of their opening match in Euro 2016 on Saturday.

Fans clash after Saturday's Euro 2016 match between England and Russia

Russian fans stormed the terraces after the match and England supporters, many of whom were with their children and partners, were seen rapidly fleeing the terraces in terror.

It followed violent scenes ahead of the match, which left one British man in a critical condition and a number of others hospitalised.

Trained Russian thugs, known as the Ultras, arrive at the matches in organised squads with gumshields and weapons, with the sole purpose of beating supporters for other teams.

Marriner said England fans “come from a fighting country” and that it is “naturally in your blood to defend what you think you should defend”.

“It might well be a sport but were getting ambushed out there, people are getting absolutely bullied,” he said. 

The former hooligan also slammed UEFA for organising the match in Marseille, suggesting that there had always been trouble in the port town in the past.

“Why would UEFA put us in Marseille? Every single time we play in Mareseille there’s aggravation. So far we’re fighing against the locals, the Turks, the Algerians, everything from north Africa, the old bill, and now we’re fighting the Russians.”

Marriner said there were 5,000 English fans people banned, and 1,500 people turned back from the train stations just for being an undesirable

“We’ve got police spotters out there - what are these police spotters doing?”

When Schofield admitted there were some ‘bad eggs’ in France, Marriner replied, “Yeah, police.”