Soldier Chris Jones lies unconscious in hospital after brutal attack

But football fan Chris Jones is today lying in a hospital bed unconscious and wired up to machines, his body battered and bruised.

If he manages to survive the severe head injuries he sustained during a fight with rival fans outside a pub, it is likely he will not be well enough to see his baby boy born.

Today the Daily Echo has printed the shocking image of Chris, a soldier who has recently returned from Afghanistan, in the hope that someone will come forward with information about who attacked him.

His distraught family, including his heavily pregnant girlfriend Kathryn, have maintained a bedside vigil for the man they describe as “the life and soul of the party” since they received the news of the attack on Saturday.

One week earlier Cardiff City supporter Chris, 21, had been in hospital, having had emergency surgery to remove his appendix.

On his release he was given strong medication and signed off sick.

On Saturday he joined fellow Cardiff City fans including several of his friends and his dad, who were coming to Southampton from Wales to see the clash at St Mary’s.

The trouble broke out around half an hour after the game kicked off, spilling outside the Chapel Arms pub in Albert Road North, where Chris had stayed with a friend.

He was punched and fell to the ground, knocking his head against the pavement and his family believe he was then continuously attacked, his wrist and cheekbone fractured and his hands badly swollen as if they have been stamped on.

His friend was hit in the eye with a bottle and needed seven stitches.

Speaking at the Wessex Neurological Unit at Southampton General Hospital, Kathryn, 19, who is due to give birth in the next two weeks, said: “I got a call to say he’d been involved in a fight and hit across the head.

"I was told it was serious and he was in intensive care. He’s been sedated because there was so much swelling and they need to give it a chance to come down, but his hands are so swollen and bruised it looks as though someone was stamping on them, like they carried on even after he fell down.”

Fighting back tears, Kathryn added: “He’s so much looking forward to being a dad. He can’t wait.

"Nothing can prepare you for seeing someone like this. They don’t know yet what the long-term damage could be.”

Chris’s mum Wendy Underhill added: “I was called from the hospital and I was hysterical – they told me to get here as quick as I could.

When I saw him I was totally and utterly shocked. I’m totally disgusted that anyone is capable of doing this to another human being.”

His stepdad Roy Underhill said Chris, from Pontyclun, was someone who would avoid trouble because he wouldn’t risk his Army career, adding that he had not even gone to Southampton wearing his team’s blue colours.

“He’s just a guy who loves football but he’s not an idiot – just a family man. But someone decided to use him as a punchbag on a Saturday afternoon and left him in this state. What type of person does that?”

Army chiefs have visited the hospital to offer support for Chris, a member of the Royal Logistics Corp, while Cardiff City chairman Peter Ridsdale has also given the family financial help.

Detectives investigating the attack say they are confident there are people who witnessed the assault who have not come forward.

Detective Sergeant Dave Nealon said: “At this time Chris Jones is lying unconscious in hospital and it is too early to say what the prognosis is.

"With that in mind I would urge those who either were party to or who knows those involved to come forward, even to speak to us anonymously.”

Anyone with information should call Shirley CID on 0845 045 4545 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.