Footballer 'trashed' Indian restaurant

Woodhouse (right) pleaded guilty to affray

An England under-21 football international has admitted attacking a 60-year-old restaurant worker with a chair after his team lost a cup final game in Cardiff.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Birmingham City player Curtis Woodhouse, 21, wielded the chair above his head as he and two friends "trashed" the Indian restaurant.

The restaurant was just a mile from the Millennium Stadium

The three were arrested on the day his team lost to Liverpool in the 2001 Worthington Cup Final at the city's Millennium Stadium.

Midfielder Woodhouse and his friends pleaded guilty to affray and will be sentenced next month.

Woodhouse, who has played four times for the England under-21 side, joined the Blues in a £1m deal from Sheffield United just three weeks before the 25 February final.

He was the youngest player ever to captain Sheffield United during his time at Bramhall Lane but was unable to play in the Worthington Cup game because he had already played in the competition for Sheffield United.

The court heard how his visit to Cardiff turned from football to violence following the Midlands' side defeat.

He and two friends, Ross Fenwick, 20, a university student living in the Cathays area of the city, and Paul Acey, 22, of King Meadow, Driffield, East Yorks, went to the Balti Cuisine restaurant close to the stadium for a late-night meal.

Mr Woodhouse has played for England under-21s

But it turned into a brawl as Woodhouse picked up a chair and waved it around, leaving the restaurant "trashed".

On Monday, Acey admitted being in the fight.

Woodhouse and Fenwick had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

Prosecutor Jonathan Austin said: "Woodhouse accepts wielding the chair in a threatening manner."

Mr Austin told how Acey had originally pleaded not guilty but had since changed his plea.

Violence victim

One elderly restaurant worker, who was not named in court, was the victim of the violence.

Judge Philip Richards said: "This was an unprovoked attack on a 60-year-old man and the restaurant was effectively trashed."

All three will be sentenced on July 22 - a month before newly-promoted Birmingham kick off their season in the Premiership away at Arsenal.

Woodhouse was released on condition that he stays each night at his home address and notifies the police if he travels away with Birmingham City for an overnight stay.