FRIENDS have paid tribute to a Bolton Wanderers fan who died just 15 minutes after smoking a “legal high” called Pysclone with friends at a flat in Heaton.

Michael Marshall, aged 38, was listening to the football on the radio with his friends when he collapsed at about 6pm on Sunday.

He had been smoking a “herbal incense” called Psyclone which was sold on Bolton Market with a warning that it was “not for direct inhalation”.

Mr Marshall — known affectionately as “Mickey ASBO” to his friends — was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital, where staff alerted police to his death.

Phillip Oakley, Mr Marshall’s friend who lives at the flat, said it was a Sunday tradition for the friends to listen to the football.

Mr Marshall, of Park Road, Heaton, had been released from Forest Bank Prison on Tuesday, September 24, after a five-month sentence, a friend said.

Mr Oakley, aged 51, met Mr Marshall through the Salvation Army when they were both homeless.

He said: “We’d been friends for years and it was because we were both Wanderers fans — he loved his football.

“Mickey came round when the Sunderland v Liverpool match was on and he looked absolutely fine.

“He was talking to me about Wanderers as normal and then he just started foaming at the mouth and collapsed. He didn’t complain of any pain in his chest, he just collapsed.

“We had bought this incense from the market on Saturday. He had not been drinking. He was completely sober when he came round.

“He didn’t normally smoke but that day he did. We all were but we weren’t doing anything illicit.

“It was just a normal Sunday and then he collapsed. We’re all just baffled to as how he died.

"He’s a big lad, he’s never been a proper drug addict and kept himself clean.

“He had been in and out of prison over the years but he’d always been good to me. We’re all gutted about what happened.”

There were three other men in the flat at the time — two of whom were also taken to hospital for a check-up.

Police are now investigating the matter, but said there were no suspicious circumstances. They added that the cause of Mr Marshall’s death had not yet been established.

Detectives said they have spoken to a number of other people as part of their investigation, who also said they had smoked Psyclone.

They have now issued a stern warning about the dangers of “legal highs”.

Det Sgt Rob Parker said: “We do not yet know how the man died but we are of course working with the coroner to establish the full circumstances.

“Worryingly we know the man and others he was with had smoked herbal incense.

“The sole purpose is to use it as a legal high, and, faced with what we know, we feel it is incumbent upon us to send out what will appear to most to be an extremely obvious safety message.

“Put simply, do not smoke herbal incense. It is not for direct inhalation and you do not know what effect it will have on your wellbeing.”

See our feature on recent deaths linked to both legal and illegal drugs here.