Neil Warnock has told Sky Sports he was "out of order" for suggesting Chris Kirkland went down like a "tonne of bricks" after being attacked by a Leeds fan on Friday night. Meanwhile the Police claim they have identified the suspect.

Warnock was indeed out of order for suggesting the Sheffield Wednesday keeper went to ground quickly following the worst shove seen at Hillsborough since Paolo Di Canio pushed referee Paul Alcock over, however he has redeemed himself by admitting he was out of order and Kirkland is indeed a good professional.

His opposite number Dave Jones however still thinks we are a bunch of vile animals who "smashed up their stadium", "beat up his keeper" and should be banned from "every away game".

If Jones does get his own way it will be interesting to see how much revenue other clubs would lose. I doubt there will be another 5300 away fans come to Hillsborough this season, unless they draw a big Premiership team or Sheffield United in the FA Cup.

The Police meanwhile say they are closing in on the thug who attacked Kirkland, who has been already named and shamed on social media networks. However no arrest has been announced as yet.

If it is the same person who has been outed on Twitter and now has a Facebook group dedicated against him, then it looks like he may already be subject to a football banning order so hopefully a Judge can throw the book at him and send him down for a long, long time.

Questions will be asked how he flouted the ban and got into the stadium. Although you do have to be a member normally to buy tickets for Leeds away matches, you can link "friends and family members" accounts online and in the absence of any formal checks at the turnstiles I suppose it would be quite easy to pass on a ticket to a third party.

I hope that the CCTV inside the ground can pinpoint the suspect to a seat number and whoever bought that ticket should face a lifetime ban too.

I'm sure many readers out there will remember the U-Club cards back in the 1980's following the troubles in that decade. If I remember rightly you had to have two written character referees, a signed photograph and these were checked by Leeds stewards at the away turnstiles, basically no card, no entry.

Leeds United effectively pressed on with ID cards despite Mrs Thatcher's governments failure to bring them in nationally.

However in October 1993 I was able to get round this when I'd left my ID card at home by mistake. A mate got through, passed his membership card to me under the noses of the stewards and I gained entry through another turnstile before meeting him on the inside and gratefully handing it back to him!

The game in question? Ironically it was our 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on October 30th 1993!

We now await our fate from the football authorities. Having googled the incidents where Aston Villa keeper Michael Enckleman was attacked by Birmingham fans, AC Milan's Dida by a Celtic supporter and our one-time golden boy Alan Smith at the Dog Botherers during last seasons Play-Offs, I do not recall the authorities being that punitive.

However we all know that this is Leeds United and there are many with an axe to grind, so I am expecting the worse and think we will be banned for at least three away matches.

Photo: Action Images

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