The grandson of Bill Shankly has been convicted of public order offences after he was involved in violent clashes following last month’s Capital One Cup Final.
Christopher Shankly-Carline who runs the Shankly Foundation and is director of the Shankly Hotel contacted the Liverpool Echo to apologise for his behaviour at last month’s Wembley showpiece.
It is understood that he was arrested before entering the ground and before the match had begun.
Christopher was convicted of two separate public order offences on Tuesday last week.
The convictions are in relation to section 5 and 4a of the public order act are issued when a person’s behaviour or language is deemed to be ‘threatening or abusive with the intention or awareness with intent to cause and thereby causing harassment, alarm or distress.’
As a result of the conviction he will be required to wear a tag and observe a curfew for four weeks. He did not receive a match banning order.
Speaking to the Echo he claims that he was protecting his friend after “banter” with Manchester City fans turned violent.
He said: “We were travelling into the ground and there was banter happening between rival fans. Sadly the banter descended into more serious name calling between a friend in our group and a large group of City fans.
“It turned ugly, seven or eight men started being violent towards my friend, I was worried for his safety so I made the decision to try and intervene.
“My friend was injured, he had a number of marks on his back and on his neck. He had a hooded top on and in the melee he had ended up with his top pulled over his head so he couldn’t see.”
“I’d seen how serious and how violent it was getting I ran in to separate it out and to try and stop it, and more people ran in and it got more serious,”
“I should have looked for a police officer but in the heat of the moment and seeing the level of aggression that was going on between the guys and my friend, I made the decision to step in.”
“I regret massively what happened, it’s not in my nature at all, I’ve never acted like that at all in my past – I have no prior convictions and I’ve never had any dealings with the police.”
During his apology he insisted that anyone in the same situation would have done the same.
He went on to say ““I couldn’t stand by and see my friend violently hurt – from my side, I think anyone would make the decision to try and intervene and help if they were put in that situation,”
“It’s something that my grandad would have done. He’d have tried to intervene and help out his friend.”