A football fan who was given a banning order after invading the pitch at a Dundee United game says his sentence is a “total joke.”
Barry McHugh was barred from every football ground in the UK for three years and given 110 hours of community service at Dundee Sheriff Court after admitting running on to the Tannadice field during a Europa League tie with Dinamo Moscow in August.
The 26-year-old said the sentence was “way over the top.”
He said: “I’d had a lot to drink that day, but everything that’s happened since then has just been a total joke.
“It’s been blown way out of proportion. The banning order is way over the top.”
McHugh added that he was “gutted” to be banned from the club he had supported for years.
He said: “Of course I’m gutted, that goes without saying. I just have to get on with it.
“It’s been mortifying for me, seeing big pictures in the paper and everything.”
Dundee United were fined £13,500 by football governing body Uefa after the game, which also saw violent clashes between fans in the Jim McLean Fair Play stand.
There were three arrests on the night, and seven fans were ejected from the stadium.
In addition to the standard terms of a banning order, McHugh must not travel to any place where Dundee United are playing.