An Arsenal fan told today how he was hit on the head with an iron stool when 100 Italian football hooligans stormed a pie shop near the Emirates stadium.
Tim Garwood, 48, was standing outside Piebury Corner with his son Will before Arsenal’s Champions League game with Napoli last night.
Thugs armed with metal poles and with scarves masking their faces launched the unprovoked attack as terrified staff barricaded themselves in the lavatories .
Speaking from his home in Romford, Mr Garwood said: “It was all a bit of a blur. I was trying to grab Will and he was trying to grab me then I looked up and saw this cast iron chair come smashing down on me. He just hit me full right on the top of my head.
“It was pouring blood but there was a doctor queuing up and he saw to me straight away before the cops got there and bandaged me up.”
Mr Garwood, the production director of Media 10 which puts on events such as the Ideal Home Show, was taken to hospital where he had 16 stitches put in a head wound and had a brain scan.
He added: “I’m not too bad this morning, thank goodness. I’ve had better days. I’ve been going to see the Arsenal all my life and even though this was horrible it won’t put me off going back. The funny thing is my great grandfather came over from Napoli in the Thirties and as a family we’ve always had a great affection for the place.” His business partner Richard Morey, 48, said: “It was like going back to the early Eighties."
