Michael Ricketts apologises for attacking girlfriend

?Ex-Walsall and England striker Michael Ricketts told a court he was "really sorry" after head-butting and punching his girlfriend in a row over ex-lovers at a restaurant.

The 32-year-old was yesterday given a 12-month community order for the attack, involving 150 hours' unpaid work, fined £200 and ordered to pay £85 costs.

The former Saddlers star had been celebrating his 32nd birthday when the row erupted in Amba Bar in Hale, Cheshire, in December.

The court in Manchester heard that the pair, who remain a couple, had been drinking and planning their future together when they began going over "old ground" and began discussing past relationships.

Mr Alan Pope, prosecuting, said Ricketts had accused Ms McEwan of being involved with someone else and she ordered a taxi to leave. When they got outside, he punched and head-butted his girlfriend, who fell to the ground.

Ricketts later pleaded guilty to common assault but Miss McEwan wrote to Trafford magistrates in his defence, claiming that she intended her words to hurt him. He said yesterday:

"I'm very disappointed about what happened and what it led to. I'm really sorry. Conversation stirred up a lot of emotions."

Police threatened Ricketts with a Taser stun gun when he continued to be aggressive, the court heard. They eventually managed to restrain him and he was arrested.

Ms McEwan, who was left with a cut eye, told the court in her letter that before the attack she said things which were "deliberately derogatory" and "intended to hurt him". Mr Bryan

McMahon, defending, said: "It is obviously an abhorrent incident. There did seem to be some element of verbal altercation between the victim and Mr Ricketts. He should have walked away.

"She accepts that the future between them was being planned, alcohol was involved and essentially, as is the way with most discussions on the future, that included old ground, old relationships. There was an element of provocation. I don't say that, the victim says that. It is totally out of character."

Ricketts, of Four Oaks Road, Birmingham, told the court he had been unemployed for about a year but was still looking to play football.

The footballer started as a trainee at Walsall before signing for Bolton in 2000. He played once for England in a friendly against Holland.