An ugly clash between football fans following Leicester's match at home to West Ham saw one supporter knocked out after receiving a sickening blow to the head.
Former champions Leicester were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday, despite beating West Ham 2-1 in their final game of the season. After full-time, footage quickly circulated around social media which shows the two sets of fans clashing on Aylestone Road near the King Power Stadium, where the fixture was played.
As one supporter attempts to crawl back to his feet on a zebra crossing, a rival boots him in the head with his foot, while another goes to punch the defenceless man. Both of them backed away to the other side of the street, as two other fans from the opposing camp attempted to help the man who'd been knocked out.
A separate video, also posted by Gruppa OF on Twitter, shows more supporters attending to the KO'd fan, one of whom is wearing a West Ham shirt. Gruppa OF - who refer to themselves as the "#1 hooligan info group in the world" - captioned the post with the date, stating: "Leicester win. 1 West Ham KO."
Viewers were sickened by the footage, as one wrote in response: "Booting a man in the head and then running away. Cowardly." Using a clock emoji. Another added: "Kicking a bloke on the deck? Automatic loss for cowardly behaviour that."
Leicestershire Police explained in a statement to Mirror Football: "Officers deployed to assist with the policing operation following Leicester City's match with West Ham United on Sunday (28 May) dealt with two groups of people who were involved in an altercation in Aylestone Road. The groups were separated to prevent a breach of the peace and dispersed. No one at the scene requested any medical treatment."
Emotions ran high after full-time, with West Ham supporters having teased Lececster fans throughout the match which saw the hosts relegated from the Premier League. Chants of "say hello to Millwall" and "you're going to cry in a minute" rang around the away end, rubbing salt in the Foxes' wounds.
Leicester were, for a period, staying up until Everton took the lead in the second half of their game against Bournemouth. When the Toffees' victory was confirmed, Leicester joined Leeds and Southampton in going down to the second tier, ending their nine-year stint back in the top flight.
Manager Dean Smith was given eight games to save the Foxes' season, but he admits that he failed. "It's a massive disappointment for everybody," Smith bemoaned after the match. "I can only look at my eight games. I thought it was going to be tough. The confidence was low. I felt we'd need 11 points to stay up. We got nine. In that regard, we failed."
