Banned Hearts fan says 'I'm not a thug'

Published on Tuesday 26 June 2007 12:06

A HEARTS fan who became one of the first in Scotland to be banned from all of Britain's football grounds today denied he was a hooligan.

Dean Gollan, 32, of Gilmerton, said he had "lost the plot" by jumping on a fence separating Hearts fans from Aberdeen supporters and told how he now feared a life ban from the Tynecastle club.

The season-ticket holder was given the three month football banning order for breach of the peace during the game at Aberdeen's Pittodrie stadium on March 10.

Speaking after the order was handed down at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, long-distance lorry driver Gollan, who has supported Hearts for 24 years, claimed he had been provoked by rival fans. Gollan, who had travelled to the game in a Hearts supporters bus, said: "I was in the away section but particularly close to the fence separating us from the home fans.

"There was plenty of banter and some colourful language to say the least, but you get that at any football match.

"It started to get heated and I turned round to see a guy spitting from the Aberdeen side of the fence. It landed on a guy with a walking stick who must have been in his late-60s.

"That's out of order. I lost the plot. I should have kept my nose out but it's something you can't condone. I went up to the fence and told him exactly what I thought of him.

"The police made out that I was trying to climb over the fence. I'm 6ft and weigh nearly 18 stone, so there was no way I was getting over that fence."

Gollan, who has one previous conviction for breach of the peace from 1997, added: "I'm not condoning what I did - I was in the wrong. But I deny that I'm a hooligan or have ever been a hooligan."

However, he fears Hearts will not be easily persuaded. "I'm expecting a life ban from Tynecastle," he admitted. "I've got to apologise to Hearts for dragging the club into this."

Gollan, who has already bought a 385 season ticket for Tynecastle for next season, was fined 200 by Aberdeen Sheriff Court after admitting breach of the peace and banned from attending a match in the UK between the start of the season on August 4 and November 4. In court Sheriff James Tierney said: "This is not the worst example of football hooliganism that has come to the courts, but it is still unacceptable and it is right that you should have a degree of punishment."

Constable Simon Gardiner, Grampian Police's football banning order co-ordinator, said: "I am sure that the vast majority of well-behaved fans, not only in Aberdeen but throughout Scotland, will see the ban as a positive step towards deterring bad behaviour at football matches.

"People attending football matches should be able to enjoy the sport without fear of trouble by a minority of individuals.

The order is only the second imposed in Scotland by a criminal court since the introduction of new legislation.