Josh the Builder is his name, and after a alleged run-in with David Moyes he thought that he "was going to die".
The 23-year-old Josh Gillibrand has been telling The Sun all about his scuffle with David Moyes in Clitheroe's Emporium brasserie and wine bar on Wednesday night. As venues for showdowns go, Clitheroe isn't up there with the OK Corral, but according to Gillibrand it was still like something out of the Wild West with "tables flying everywhere and glass all over the place".
The builder continued: "He grabbed me round the neck and struck me in the back of the head…it was a total surprise."
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Then again, perhaps it should not have come as a surprise. The Daily Mail has a different take on events, it says Moyes snapped "after he was subjected to a torrent of abuse" with one drinker in particular said to "have goaded him about his recent sacking" by Manchester United.
At that point, reveals the Mail, Moyes lunged at Gillibrand, "grabbing a bottle from a table and hitting him on the side of the head". Far from tables flying all over the place, there was a "brief scuffle" before the two men were separated by other diners. Police confirmed on Thursday night they have launched an investigation into the incident and it's reported they will be speaking to Moyes in the near future.
Gillibrand, who is at pains to point out to the Sun that he still lives with his parents, claims all he said to Moyes was: "All right, what brings you to these parts?" To which the 51-year-old Scot replied: "You f***ing what?". Gillibrand added that he "tried to shake his hand but I could see he was angry".
The Mail, however, spoke to an 'acquaintance' of Gillibrand who admitted: "Josh was giving him banter, I think it might have been a chant about him leaving Manchester United, nothing very offensive, and initially Moyes just walked past him into the bar. But moments later Moyes came back outside, squared up to Josh and just threw him across the table – we couldn't believe what we'd seen."
Describing the builder as "a well-built lad" and "not particularly mouthy", the eye-witness said: "It's amazing to think that someone who a few weeks ago was managing one of the world's top football clubs was scuffling outside a bar on a Wednesday night in Clitheroe."
'A Wednesday night in Clitheroe'... sounds more Alan Bennett than Sergio Leone.
