LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN Steven Gerrard punched a man three times in a nightclub brawl with the “style and speed of a professional boxer”, a court heard yesterday.
The England midfielder “totally lost it” after failing to gain control of the venue’s music from another customer, Marcus McGee, on a night out in Southport in the early hours of December 29th, a jury at Liverpool crown court heard.
Businessman McGee, 34, was the “man who said no to Steven Gerrard”, a local hero and one of the world’s top footballers, the prosecution said at the opening of Gerrard’s trial for affray.
The jury was shown CCTV footage from the Lounge Inn that night showing Gerrard with friends celebrating Liverpool’s 5-1 victory that day at Newcastle. Gerrard and his friends can be seen singing football songs, dancing and downing shots. Later footage from the club showed Gerrard hitting out at McGee with three uppercut punches, it was alleged.
Things had turned sour at around 2am when Gerrard went over to talk to McGee, a customer who had control of the venue’s CD player, and had a disagreement about his choice of music, asking him for the card that controlled the machine, prosecutor David Turner QC said. Gerrard, who denies affray and who sat stern-faced in the dock, was said to have approached McGee saying: “Here y’are lad. Give me that lad.” But McGee objected to his attitude and the expression “lad”, Turner said.
“Not many people on Merseyside, or indeed anywhere else would refuse a request from Steven Gerrard, but Mr McGee did,” said Turner.
“There can be no doubt that this refusal astounded Steven Gerrard. He walked away back to his party, but the CCTV evidence shows how much his mood had changed. He was no longer the centre of that high-spirited party.”
He said Gerrard was clearly walking around, musing on what had happened about the man “who had said no to Steven Gerrard”. Six minutes later, it is alleged, Gerrard approached McGee, who was still at the bar, saying: “Who the f**k do you think you are?” The two men stood head to head in a hostile confrontation often seen between football players, Turner said.
Then Gerrard’s friend John Doran first jabbed his elbow into McGee’s face, and Gerrard “totally lost it” and joined in “with a succession of well-aimed uppercut punches delivered with the style and speed of a professional boxer, rather than a professional footballer”.
Ian Smith, another member of Gerrard’s party, allegedly joined in. Doran and Smith kicked McGee, the court was told, and he was left with multiple injuries including a head wound that needed four stitches, a lost tooth, and a black eye. The jury heard Gerrard was pulled away by the bar manager and restrained.
McGee, his face bleeding, was later seen sitting at the bar with his girlfriend following a separate incident that didn’t involve Gerrard. Six co-defendants, including two Accrington Stanley players, have admitted charges of affray or threatening behaviour before their trial was due to begin.The jurors were told they had to decide whether the prosecution had proved Gerrard was not acting in self-defence.
- Guardian Service
