A FOOTBALL coach who hurled a seat at police during a huge pitch invasion during a Birmingham City v Aston Villa derby match has been sent to a young offenders’ institution for ten months.

Recorder Miss Abigail Nixon told 18-year-old Villa fan Jordan Powell: “You should know better than most that your behaviour cannot be tolerated.

“In effect you used a weapon that day. You ripped a chair out of the stands and threw it with force.

“It is only good fortune that the chair did not either hit a member of the public, innocent or otherwise, or a police officer. Somebody could have been seriously injured.”

The judge said she had taken into account Powell’s previous good character and the possibility that he might lose his job.

Powell, of Overton Drive, Water Orton, Solihull, who had previously admitted violent disorder, was also made the subject of a six-year footballing ban.

Graham Henson, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said the invasion occurred at the end of a Carling Cup match at between Birmingham and Villa St Andrews on December 1 last year.

It involved hundreds of fans who were in an “extremely agitated and aggressive state”.

An officer, he said, described chairs being thrown by both sets of supporters onto the pitch and that the situation was “incredibly violent and volatile”. He said distress was being caused to innocent supporters who had simply gone to watch a football match.

Mr Henson said that Powell had been seen to pick up a seat and throw it, the chair landing just a few feet from a police cordon.

He said later an officer viewing CCTV footage of Villa supporters recognised Powell because of his distinctive clothing.

Powell, when interviewed, said he was upset because Villa had lost and that his anger got the better of him. He said that Birmingham City fans had been goading Villa supporters and admitted also breaking the back of another seat.