A SAINTS fan banned from matches after kicking out at a rival supporter once dreamed of becoming a professional footballer himself.

It has emerged that Murrey Holmes, who was spared jail after the fracas before a match against West Bromwich Albion, was once on the books at Bournemouth as an aspiring young footballer.

And his manager at his current club says Holmes’s actions on board the train heading for West Brom’s Hawthorns stadium were “out of character” and “something he’s not particularly proud of”.

As reported in yesterday’s Daily Echo, Holmes was among Saints fans travelling to watch the team take on West Brom on February 28 when trouble flared on a train between Snow Hill in Birmingham and The Hawthorns.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told that “banter” between the two sets of fans had turned ugly and pointing turned into “aggressive behaviour and pushing”.

Holmes leapt on to a seat and, using the luggage rack as leverage, he kicked out towards the head of a West Brome fan.

The 24-year-old was not involved in further trouble which broke out on the platform of The Hawthorns station, where a West Brom fan had his jaw broken.

Holmes, of Wonston Road, Southampton, was once a youth team player along the south coast at Bournemouth, where he was on the club’s books at the same time as future Cherries and Liverpool player Danny Ings.

But he failed to secure a deal, leaving the club in 2010 at the same time as Ings signed professional terms, and since then he has played for a number of non-league clubs in Hampshire, including AFC Totton and Brockenhurst.

This summer he signed for Hamble Club after the Monks gained promotion to Division One of the Sydenhams Football League (Wessex), and his new manager says the Fawley Refinery worker’s ban will lead to him missing evening training sessions and matches due to a curfew requirement put on him by a judge, although it will not affect his future at the club.

Holmes was given an eight-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months with 80 hours unpaid work and a two-month night-time curfew by Judge Simon Ward after he admitted affray.

He has also been banned him from attending football matches for three years and ordered him to pay £350 costs Ben Kneller, co-manager at Hamble Club, said: "Obviously it’s a difficult time for Murrey really.

"It’s something he’s not particularly proud of.

"It’s something which seems out of character, it’s a shame.

"We’ve all made mistakes at times, so we don’t judge people on things they did outside of football."

"Murrey is a fantastic asset for us, he’s very talented and there certainly won’t be a change.

"Sometimes you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and he has been punished accordingly."