April 18

April 18, 2002 (Friday) from The Sun

Woodgate "punch" quiz

By ROBIN PIERRE

SOCCER star Jonathan Woodgate is to be quizzed by police over an alleged attack on a student in a pub.

Middlesbrough fan Anthony Strange, 18, claims the Newcastle United defender punched him after he joked: “You should have signed for the Boro — they’re a better team.”

But Woodgate, 23 — who was convicted of affray in 2001 over a late night bust-up — yesterday insisted he was innocent.

He said: “I’m perfectly happy to co-operate with the police in any way they wish. I’ve nothing to hide. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Mr Strange claims he was drinking with friends at the Dickens Inn in Middlesbrough, Teesside, when he went to the toilet and saw the star.

He said: “I just said to Woodgate, ‘You should have signed for the Boro — they’re a better team’.

“I was just winding him up — it went on for about 10 seconds. It was just a laugh, just a daft joke.”

The teenager claims he was hit in the face and needed hospital treatment for slight bruising to his right cheek. He reported the matter to police at 1am on Wednesday. A spokesman for Woodgate said: “The story has no foundation whatsoever.

“There are people who continue to make mischief for Jonathan.”

A Cleveland Police official confirmed: “We are investigating an allegation of assault.”

Woodgate, who moved to Newcastle for £9million from Leeds in January, was given community service for affray over a chase in which student Sarfraz Najeib was brutally battered.

A pal was jailed for six years for grievous bodily harm while West Ham United midfielder Lee Bowyer, then with Leeds, was cleared of all charges.

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