Fan handcuffs himself to goalpost during Premier League match 'because Ryanair axed his daughter in the recession'
A Premier League match was brought to a standstill last night when a supporter handcuffed himself to a goalpost in protest over his air hostess daughter being sacked by Ryanair.
John Foley, 46, halted play at Goodison Park for around five minutes in a one-man demonstration aimed at the airline's boss Michael O'Leary.
Mr O'Leary was apparently in the stands to watch the game between Everton and his favourite team Manchester City.
Liverpool fan Mr Foley emerged from the Goodison Park crowd with just under five minutes remaining until half-time and shackled himself to the frame of City keeper Joe Hart's goal.
Protest: Stewards were too slow to get to John Foley as he handcuffed himself to the post
A message on his T-shirt read: 'Europe's greatest training robbers. Ryanair. Lowest wages guaranteed. Stop. Recruitment scamming our children.'
Everton captain Phil Neville tried to convince Mr Foley to leave the pitch but his request was ignored and police used bolt-cutters to remove the handcuffs.
After a five-minute hold-up he was released and led away by police.
Mr Foley, a jeweller, was released on police bail after spending a night in the cells following his arrest for pitch invasion.
After his release he used his blog to apologise to both sets of fans, and explained that his protest was the latest in a series aimed at Ryanair.
He said: 'Ryanairdontcare Campaign founder John Foley staged a peaceful protest last night at Goodison Park were Michael O'Leary was in attendance, as horse racing and Manchester City is his Passion.
Ryanairdontcare Campaign wish to apologise to Everton F.C , Manchester City, Stewards and all fans Except O'Leary the scammer for any upset caused by this protest.....
'John Foley has many family and friends who support Everton but he himself is a Liverpudlian.
'The issues of young people being recruitment scammed at Ryanair needs to be told...'
It emerged that Mr Foley has staged previous protest against Ryanair over the treatment of his daughter Sarah, who worked for the airline in 2008.
In February 2010, he climbed onto the roof of the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Liverpool John Lennon Aiport brandishing a banner criticising Ryanair's training programme.
Sarah, who was 18 at the time, was allegedly recruited by St James Management, who train cabin crew for Ryanair.
She paid a deposit to the company and trained for six weeks in Bishop Stortford, before being offered a contract from Crewlink, another recruitment company.
Sarah was then required to move to Dublin, but her contract was terminated along with 20 others after seven weeks.
On his blog, Mr Foley described how the cabin crew were told that they were being dismissed due to 'the recession'.
He said: 'They were all terminated and the reason was the recession.
'This was a very hard time for Sarah and she was alone in Dublin by this time and cried for days.'Mr Foley claims Ryanair refused to give Sarah a flight home, and that he had to get a ferry over to Dublin to collect her.
It took a number of officers and a pair of bolt-cutters to remove the handcuffs as fans looked on
Mr Foley blasted the dismissal as a 'scam' by Ryanair to get money out of young people.
He wrote: 'An 18-year-old scouse girl had seen through this scam and after being refused a flight home had told Ryanair supervisors never to forget her name "Foley". How true was these words.'
Ryanair's rejects Mr Foley's claims.
European Communication Manager Daniel de Carvalho has said: 'Ryanair can confirm that this person was never directly employed by Ryanair, she was employed by Crewlink which supply contract cabin crew to Ryanair.
'Crewlink confirm that this woman failed her probation as within the first seven weeks she had a number of occasions of lateness, a large number of uncertified leave days and one occasion where she did not report for duty.
'At Ryanair we maintain very high standards of professionalism among our cabin crew and people who are unwilling to work hard or turn up for work will not continue to be employed either by Ryanair or by any of our contractors.'
Mr Foley was charged under the 1991 Football Offences Act with going on to the playing area at a football match and bailed with conditions to appear before Liverpool Magistrates Court on 17 February 17.
The protest did not affect Everton's play, as they went on to beat the league leaders 1-0 thanks to a Darren Gibson goal.
Police finally managed to escort Mr Foley away after a five-minute break in the game
