THE wife of a football fan left in a coma after being viciously assaulted has called on the Southampton public to find his attacker.

Jamie Turner remains on a life-support machine five days after he was beaten with a baseball bat minutes before the kick-off of Sunday's Premiership clash which saw Saints relegated.

Manchester United fan Jamie, of Madeley in Telford, was visiting the city to watch his team play the Saints in the final game of the league season.

His wife Karen broke away from the bedside vigil she has been keeping at Southampton General Hospital and, joined by the couple's two children, 18-year-old Liam and 13-year-old Kirsty, made the appeal for her husband's attacker to be found.

At an emotionally charged press conference, Mrs Turner said she feared that her 45-year-old husband could die at any moment or be left permanently brain damaged as a result of the attack.

"My husband is an ordinary family man who was walking towards a football ground to watch a game with friends last Sunday when he was attacked," she said.

"Jamie is a warm, friendly and humorous husband and father with many friends.

"We have been married for 22 years and I have known him since we were 13. Now he is lying unconscious in a hospital on a ventilator and is fighting for his life.

"He could die at any time but he may recover.

"If he does recover he may lose mobility or be brain damaged. We may never have the husband and father back that we saw go to watch that game on Sunday.

"I urge all true football fans to help me and my family in our hour of need.

"Help us catch the person who did this."

Mr Turner, a businessman, was walking with a group of friends to the match when a large number of people started fighting outside The Gladstone Club, at the junction of Clifford Street and Golden Grove in St Mary's, at 2.55pm on Sunday.

Following an operation to remove part of his fractured skull and a blood clot that had formed, he remains in a coma on a life-support machine.

Mrs Turner added: "I am just grateful that our children were not with him on this occasion, as they often were.

"I cannot understand why such mindless violence is directed towards people concerned with football.

"If you live in this area and you saw anything, if you know anybody who did this or think you might have seen somebody who could have been involved, please think about what his family are going through.

"Please help the police to stop this person from doing anything like this again."