Jack Grealish

Mitchell, of Cock Hill Lane, was also ordered to pay £350 in fines and costs and has been banned from attending any football matches in the UK for 10 years.

Birmingham City apologised to both Grealish and Villa immediately after the game and said Mitchell had been banned from St Andrew's for life. He has also been banned from away games.
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He should have been banned for life like Birmingham City has done. They should have made an exception to that 10 year maximum rule.
 
A close friend had his jaw broke when he was punched from behind in a similar fashion, as you don't expect it or have very little chance to react the impact can be very severe, the psychological effects can be hard to overcome. 14 weeks is nothing, and I can't see it being much of a deterrent to future knobheads.
 
The sentence seems light to me.
Lifetime ban and a year in jail would have been more appropriate imo.
Not sure why 14 weeks seems harsh to some.
 
To be fair, had it only been a lifetime ban from Birmingham City he’d have seen it as the club doing him a favour.
 
I think a 10 point deduction for Birmingham and I dont know, maybe a three point deduction for Arsenal (lol), would be a good deterent for Sunday's incidents
 
Port Vale Devil said:
That piece of shit Alfie Perkins who posted those disgusting tweets has been banned for life also.

Looks like his Twitter has gone too.
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After half the world gave him dogs abuse, his home address was made public, hundreds of people used that address to order takeaways to his house, his Uni was made public, his Uni lodgings address was made public, loads of people reported him to West Midlands police (who are looking into it), loads of people contacted Manchester Uni to get him thrown out AND Barrington Patterson (yikes!) tweeted him asking him to do some outreach work (which if he's got any sense, he'll agree to asap).

If ever kids wanted an example of the dangers of social media and giving it the "big I am", this is it.
esmufc07 said:
I don't want people to go to prison for 14 weeks. It's a waste of money and serves no purpose.

Ban him from the ground, fine him and order him to do X amount of hours of community service.
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I think sentencing should be a punishment and a deterrent (and personally I think UK sentences are too lenient generally).... he could do the CS and walk away and forget it. After a couple of months in Winson Green Road prison (which will likely have its share of Villa fans), I doubt he'll forget it.

He might have a really tough time but the guy is married with a kid, was at the game with his Dad (!) and runs on a pitch and punched someone from behind. I can't feel sorry for him.

Hopefully, he and the Twitter idiot grow up and learn from it.
 
utdalltheway said:
The sentence seems light to me.
Lifetime ban and a year in jail would have been more appropriate imo.
Not sure why 14 weeks seems harsh to some.
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Yeah, amazing that he's not gotten a lifetime ban. 100 quid in damages too. I think this sentence is a missed opportunity to make a strong stance.

10K fine, 9 months jail and lifetime ban would have been preferable.
 
Bastian said:
Yeah, amazing that he's not gotten a lifetime ban. 100 quid in damages too. I think this sentence is a missed opportunity to make a strong stance.

10K fine, 9 months jail and lifetime ban would have been preferable.
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To be fair. A 10-year ban is the maximum that a court can give.

It also means he has to report to a police station and hand over his passport, every time England play away.
 
Port Vale Devil said:
That piece of shit Alfie Perkins who posted those disgusting tweets has been banned for life also.

Looks like his Twitter has gone too.
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How are stadium bans enforceable? Couldn't he just buy a ticket under a different name or via a friend and then go through the turnstiles as usual? With a hat/scarf he'll hardly be recognised if he keeps a low profile. Same goes to the thug who ran on the pitch
 
How exactly do clubs ban people for life? Or even being banned from attending any game for ten years? Do they check all passports?
 
Nick7 said:
How exactly do clubs ban people for life? Or even being banned from attending any game for ten years? Do they check all passports?
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I've heard people get banning orders and have to check in at the local rozz at kick off times and stuff like that.
 
Foxtrot said:
What did Jack Grealish do to warrant such an abuse? Was he a Villa boy growing up?
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Seen as a showpony who dives too much by rival fans.

Guess it's similar to when Ashley Young played for us. Or even Ronaldo for you guys before he became a bit good. Still can't remember a fan running on the pitch and assaulting them!
 
utdalltheway said:
The sentence seems light to me.
Lifetime ban and a year in jail would have been more appropriate imo.
Not sure why 14 weeks seems harsh to some.
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We need an rvn said:
The justice system is a joke at times as you see repeated burglars walking away with warning after warning and this guy gets 14 weeks whilst the cricket players who had a punch up walk away after doing more.

BUT, I'm glad they've set an example of him and quickly and I think it's a fair punishment. 14 weeks in jail will hopefully show people it's being taken seriously. Still think they need to punish the club somehow though too in perhaps a couple of matches behind closed door but no points deduction
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People are not sentenced on the whims and fancies of the public. There are sentencing guidelines with an ascending order of seriousness. A defendant falls within the given band. It also depends on the offence, priors, personal character, whether or not the defendant entered a guilty plea pre-trial and so on. A magistrates court, where he most likely ended up can only sentence someone for up to 6 months. If you expect anything longer it has to be a crown court and that needs a jury and wastes more public money. Far too much for some low level knobhead.

Ben Stokes did not plead guilty to his charge. He then had to appear in front of a crown court jury that found him not guilty on the basis of legal evidence.

MarylandMUFan said:
Damn, your justice system works really fast. Here in America, he would have been released on bail, been tried 6 months later and sentenced 3 months later and that would have been fast for us. Even if he pled guilty it would have been at least 6 or 7 months.
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This was in a magistrates court. Trial at a crown court (one level up with a jury) takes much longer. Once arrested a defendant has to be charged and in front of a magistrate within a set period. It would take a few months.
 
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MarylandMUFan said:
Holy crap, he only got a 10 year ban from attending games (plus the fine and jail time)? I just assumed it would be a lifetime ban.
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I don’t get these stadium bans , I’m sure if you throw on a hat and jacket he’s not going to be spotted at a game.
 
Pitch invasions are for last minute winners in an important game or winning the league on the last day of the season or avoiding relegation. Not because you fluked a lucky pen or wanted to go back to jail.
 
WR said:
How are stadium bans enforceable? Couldn't he just buy a ticket under a different name or via a friend and then go through the turnstiles as usual? With a hat/scarf he'll hardly be recognised if he keeps a low profile. Same goes to the thug who ran on the pitch
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Doubt he even went to the games anyway.
 
He should've got a lifetime ban from football stadiums. No point in allowing scumbags like him to ever attend a game again.
 
Bastian said:
Someone on here mentioned (Pogue?) that if a player would punch him he'd be red carded by the ref. The rules really need changing if that's the case. One thing is running onto the pitch, but at the slightest hint of aggression I think players should be allowed to do whatever they can to defend themselves.
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Attacking a fan in front of thousands of other fans (some of whom will be like minded and come to defend their own) isn’t a great thing to endorse. Players have the same rights as anyone, self defence is very much allowed.
Guy was jumped on like half a second after he hit Grealish so can’t say it’d be self defence.
 
Red_toad said:
Doesn’t he have to attend a police station? Thus he can’t be in 2 places at once?
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Attend a police station 60 times every season?!

What if it is a lifetime ban from every stadium? You basically spend 70 % of your life at the police station because there are games going on at all times?
 
Samid said:
Attend a police station 60 times every season?!

What if it is a lifetime ban from every stadium? You basically spend 70 % of your life at the police station because there are games going on at all times?
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Guy who Cantona attacked simply started supporting another team I believe. I’d say it’s a deterrent designed to make it difficult, not a 100% solution.
 
Could they have charged him with something such as inciting a riot? Could have easily prompted villa fans on the pitch to defend their player then things could really get ugly.
 
STaphouse said:
To be fair. A 10-year ban is the maximum that a court can give.

It also means he has to report to a police station and hand over his passport, every time England play away.
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Didn't know that.

Red_toad said:
Attacking a fan in front of thousands of other fans (some of whom will be like minded and come to defend their own) isn’t a great thing to endorse. Players have the same rights as anyone, self defence is very much allowed.
Guy was jumped on like half a second after he hit Grealish so can’t say it’d be self defence.
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I was referring to this:

Pogue Mahone said:
Random refereeing fact. If one of the players had punched the fan back, then the ref would have had to send them off for violent conduct. Was in one of those “You are the ref” cartoons a while back.
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I just think if you run onto the pitch steaming towards a player you shouldn't not expect to get thumped before you make your intentions known.
 
14 weeks is too soft IMO. Should be locked up in a cell with Villa fans.
 
Lifetime ban seems more fitting.
 
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14 week jail time is too short. He should have been made an example of and the judicial system missed an opportunity. He could have been carrying a weapon which could have resulted in a far serious injury. This sort of behavior has no place in sports, same with hooliganism.
 
A pathetic attack, an army of cameras, and the predictable post-match outrage. The modern game in a nutshell.

What a load of bollox, and before the Scousers start ranting, go to you tube and listen to Shankly talking about ‘real men’ fights.
 
There's a photo doing the rounds supposedly showing that the Villa fans caught up with the guy who punched Grealish. Looks nasty if true.
 
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