Football thug James Young gets three-year ban

Aug 30 2009 by Adam Jupp, Sunday Sun

TOURING the country in search of a ruck, he brought shame on the beautiful game.

Soccer yob James Young was so proud of his hooligan credentials, he even had them tattooed on his leg.

But now the game is up for the 40-year-old Toon-supporting thug after he was hit with a three-year stadium ban.

Jobless Young, of Winlaton, Gateshead, was identified as a key member of notorious hooligan firm the Newcastle Gremlins.

And as the ugly face of organised football-related violence made a comeback over the last year, he was spotted at the scene of a series of planned dust-ups involving the Magpies mob.

Newcastle Magistrates were presented a dossier of disorder relating to Young, which led to him being hit with a three-year football banning order, preventing him from going to games and banning him from town centres on match days.

The result – which comes on the back of violent scenes before and during this week’s West Ham and Milwall clash – was last night hailed by cops specialising in tackling organised soccer violence in the region.

Chief Superintendent Neil Mackay, of Northumbria Police’s football intelligence unit, said: "We are delighted by this latest order which is a testament to all the work that goes on behind the scenes, gathering the evidence to put people like Young before the courts."

At Young’s hearing, a statement prepared by PC Steve Graham was presented to the court, which told of Young’s most recent arrest, before the Toon’s warm-up with Leeds on July 29.