TV appeal nets 29 names

A Crimewatch appeal to catch football hooligans who brawled in Manchester city centre during last year’s Uefa cup final has been a huge success.

Greater Manchester Police published images of 49 wanted men on their website last night to coincide with the TV appeal as part of Operation Gale.

Around 150,000 Rangers fans travelled to Manchester for the Glasgow club’s match against Zenit St Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Rioting broke out when a big screen broke just minutes before kick-off and boozed-up supporters went on the rampage attacking police officers and vandalising the city centre.

Detective Superintendent Geoff Wessell said: “This part of the operation has so far been extremely encouraging.

“We had nearly 66,000 viewings of the images and 76 online forms have been filled in. It has been looked at by people on 7,000 different computers. The incident room has received nearly 90 calls and we have 29 further names.

“This is a fantastic start to the identity process and I want to thank everyone who has called or visited our website.

“However it is early days and we want people to continue looking at the images online and help us put these violent thugs behind bars.

“And don’t forget — these people may have worn the colours of Rangers but they could be from anywhere in the UK.”