A FOOTBALL fan was fined £400 for smashing the window of a bar as he watched the Wanderers' clash with Manchester United.

Aidan Bernes, who supports the champions, was with a group of eight people at the Spirit of St Louis, at the Middlebrook Retail Park -- near the Reebok Stadium on January 29 despite being banned from being in the close vicinity of a football ground following an incident last November.

He travelled to the Middlebrook Retail Park without a ticket for the match intending to watch the game on television.

Bernes, aged 24, told Bolton Magistrates that 30 Wanderers fans attempted to enter the bar, prompting staff to close the doors.

He said he grabbed a bar stool and used it to keep the doors closed in a bid to keep the fans out and ended up smashing a window.

The prosecution alleged he threw the stool over the heads of security staff.

Bernes, of Morton Avenue, Stretford, admitted causing criminal damage and was ordered to pay £100 compensation plus a fine of £300.

He said: "I was trying to hold the doors closed because we were afraid the Bolton fans would get inside."

Bernes was fined a further £150 for failing to surrender to court on March 2. He was given 28 days to pay.