Footballer gets community sentence for assault

Premier League footballer David Goodwillie has been given a community service order for assaulting a man in a city centre.

The Blackburn striker will also be supervised for one year after admitting the attack on John Friel in Glasgow’s Queen Street on November 3 2010.

The 23-year-old Scotland international repeatedly punched Mr Friel on the head and body and kicked him.

Sentencing him at Glasgow Sheriff Court today, Sheriff Stuart Reid said Goodwillie had been convicted of an assault charge less than 12 months before the Queen Street incident and that he did not seem “deterred” by a fine and compensation order he had been handed for it.

He imposed a 12-month probation order on him, with the conditions that he is of good behaviour and is supervised by a local authority officer. The order also requires Goodwillie to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work in the community.