After a worryingly large turnout in London earlier this month the much-hyped Football Lads Alliance (FLA) was humiliated yesterday, pulling in barely 300 people to be penned in by police and outmatched by anti-fascists.

The FLA rump, already split after an internal argument, was from the start restricted to Castlefield Bowl area by police and barred from marching through the city after they picked the day of the FA Cup final to hold a rally through the city.

Observers of the supposed “anti-extremist” crew spotted well-known hardline far-right activists such as Mick Whitby and Bill Weir in the crowd, which was less than a tenth the size of an FLA London march which took place earlier this month.

The event was organised by notorious charity shop racist Pam Brannigan and was greeted by hundreds of anti-racists on the day. After some desultory attempts at speeches clearly frustrated FLA crowd members scuffled with police and each other.

The Democratic Football Lads Alliance have since been trying to steal members from their fluffier rivals, pushing for another march in Manchester on June 2nd.