During Manchester United’s 4-3 win over City at Old Trafford last season, two stewards allegedly threw a blue down the stairs, breaking both his legs.

The blue, Peter Sweeney, had been caught smoking in the toilets and when asked to leave, sneaked his way back in to the ground. Both stewards said Sweeney fell down he stairs and that he wasn’t pushed.

However, both stewards, Mark Roberts and Paul Stringer, were charged with grievous bodily harm, and Sweeney went around selling his story to the tabloids.

“This guy was nothing but a bully,” he said. “I’m lucky he didn’t kill me. I had agreed to leave without a fuss. But as we headed along the concourse he shoved me in the back three or four times with real aggression. When I protested he told me he was entitled to ‘use reasonable force’. With that he led to the top of the stairs and pushed me straight down.”

Today, both stewards have been cleared of GBH by a jury after CCTV footage from the concourse showed Roberts and Stringer to be innocent.