A MAN responsible for a vicious attack outside a football club has been told he will only be released when he is no longer considered a danger.

Paul Warren Clifford, 36, of Eddleston Street, Accrington, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent at Preston Crown Court.

The judge passed an indefinite setence for public protection, and he will have to serve at least three-and-a-half years before possible consideration for parole.

The court was told that victim Robert Taylor, now 43, was attacked after he intervened in a domestic dispute between Clifford and his partner outside Accrington Stanley's ground.

Only the actions of the club doctor Joyce Watson, who was there socialising, had saved his life.

Mr Taylor was turning blue through lack of oxygen as he was going to swallow his tongue. He had also had to undergo surgery to re-build his face.

Dr Watson, of Casterton Avenue, Burnley, was awarded £500 from public funds and commended for her actions by the judge.

Clifford initially denied the charge but pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial after Mr Taylor had given evidence.

At the time of the attack he was on licence for a four-year sentence for causing grievous bodily.

He has since been recalled to complete that sentence.

The new jail term will run alongside it.

Judge Robert Brown said: "This was an unprovoked attack by you, a ferocious attack, a sustained attack on a man unable to defend himself from an early stage. It nearly was a fatal attack."

Judge Brown read from a report which stated the victim's injuries were akin to those sustained in a fall from a height or a high speed road accident.

He said Mr Taylor had to have a three-and-a-half-hour operation to reconstruct his facial bones.

He had multiple fractures to his cheek bones and upper jaw and a fracture to the eye socket.

Plates and plastic grafts were used to reconstruct the bones and if Dr Watson had not been there he would have died on the spot.

Mark Lamberty, pros-ecuting, told the court that on April 7, Mr Taylor had been to Accrington Stanley FC and when he left he came across Clifford arguing with his partner.

Mr Taylor remembered going to the couple to remonstrate with Clifford thinking he was about to attack his partner.

He was punched several times and wrestled to the ground and then Clifford stamped on his head five times and made off.

Dr Watson, who was in the clubhouse, went to help Mr Taylor and give him assistance.

When arrested, Clifford made no comment.

He had previous convictions for violence including one for causing grievoius bodily harm when he broke his partner's leg with a cricket bat.

He was jailed for four years at Burnley Crown Court on August 5, 2003.

Miss Kath Johnson, defending, said Clifford had had a troubled childhood and had been the victim of violence himself. Clifford had pleaded guilty although it was at a late stage.

Judge Brown said it would be Dr Watson's choice if she wanted to receive her reward and commendation in private or at a ceremony.