THE Celtic fan acquitted of violence against Dutch police has described the verdict as "bittersweet".

John Quigley, 49, said he was delighted when a judge in the Netherlands last week ruled there was not enough evidence to convict him.

But Mr Quigley said that with five other fans being found guilty by the same court he had thought at the time that he would rather have been found guilty.

He also said he would continue to lend his support to the five fans, all of whom were jailed.

Padraig Mullan, 28, and Damian Dobbin, 23, were sentenced to two months, Thomas Kennedy, 30, and 23-year-old Andy Vance to six weeks and Jozef Macpherson, 20, to a month.

They were all released pending an appeal, and are believed to have gone home.

The men were arrested amid fighting between police and fans in the city's Dam Square before Celtic's Champions League match against Ajax on 6 November.

During the disorder, police made 44 arrests. Of the 28 Celtic supporters held, 22 were freed, 10 without charge and 12 after paying fines of as much as €500 (£420).

Mr Quigley said he was accused of hitting a police officer on the head, and then later of hitting the same officer in the mouth.

But he insisted: "I don't know why they arrested me because I was nowhere near the police officers".

"Obviously I was delighted to be acquitted, but with the other boys being found guilty then it was bittersweet for me. I thought the six of us should have been acquitted.

"To be honest at the time I would rather have been found guilty along with the rest of the boys."

Mr Quigley said: "The place was jumping. It was really friendly, fun and then all of a sudden it just turned. It was really frightening.

"It is hard to say what actually happened. An atmosphere came across the square. Before that the police were playing football with us, taking photographs, laughing, joking, and then you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife within minutes."