Row over hooligan dolls

Football hooligan dolls in West Bromwich Albion colours aimed at children as young as three have been taken off the market following the threat of legal action.

Youngsters were encouraged to collect ‘Little Hooliganz’ characters to make up an entire “firm” of West Bromwich Albion thugs, sparking a storm of protest.

But the Premier League is now threatening legal action and the firm Blighty Collectables has put the sales on hold.

A warning note on the company website says: “Due to a threat of legal action from the Premier League Blighty Collectables are currently unable to sell any Little Hooliganz.

“We promise that we will be back up and running as soon as possible. We anticipate having to make a few alterations to the range.”

An Albion spokesman said: “We echo the Premier League’s official stance in its entirety.

“We, as a club, have worked tirelessly with the local authorities to make The Hawthorns a safe environment for our supporters to watch football. Therefore, we consider anything that glorifies hooliganism as utterly deplorable.

“We would urge all of our supporters to boycott these products.”

The lead hooligan for the made-up ‘West Brom Badger Bakers’ firm is “Giraffe Neck Geoff’ - named after former fans’ favourite Geoff Horsfield.

‘Geoff’ is said to disable rival hooligans with kung-fu kicks and his best saying is ‘Up the Baggies’.

His most hated firm is described as the ‘Aston Villa Alien Attendants’ and his favourite player is Zoltan Gera.

Blighty Collectables has created firms for each Premiership side of this and last season in thinly disguised club colours. Other firms include include the ‘Manchester United Merlin Marauders’ and ‘Arsenal Aardvark Avengers’.

Blighty company boss Chris Evans has claimed that the figures “satirised rather than glamorised” He said: “We don’t think we’re doing anything wrong. It is harmless fun.”