A FORMER Bury footballer has spoken of the panic and terror inside the Stade de France when news of the atrocities outside filtered through.

Jamie Hoyland, who is a columnist on the Bolton News' sister paper The Bury Times, said he thought the two bombs let off outside the stadium were just “big fireworks or flares” at first.

The 49-year-old was attending the France v Germany game in his capacity as a scout when the terrorist attacks at several locations in Paris broke out.

Bolton shows united front of solidarity following Paris attacks

Arriving back at Manchester Airport on Saturday lunchtime, he admitted:

“I am still in shock to be honest.

“When the first bomb went off outside the Stade de France, nobody around me knew what it was.

“I just thought it was a big flare or firework.

“The right people obviously knew as the French president was ushered out, but even when the second blast went off before the end of the first half I was still unaware.

“The game just continued and we were all oblivious.

“But news started to filter in after half time.

“I sat down for the second half and two French guys said 10 people had died in the centre of Paris and the noises we heard were bombs.

“I didn’t know what to think at that point, but the game just carried on as if nothing had happened.

“France scored again and there was no panic in the stadium, it might sound unbelievable, but there just wasn’t.

“But I started to look more at my mobile phone for updates and you could sense everyone else in the stadium was doing the same.

“Word started to spread around the stadium, which by the end of the game was in lockdown.

“After the match finished you couldn’t get out, so I went up to the bar and got a drink with a few other people.

“We went back to our seats and that’s when it started to get really scary.

“Supporters had started to make their way to the exits but at the far side of the ground I could see people suddenly start to run back into the stadium and onto the pitch.

“Word had got round that there were gunmen outside with Kalashnikovs, and they were trying to get in.

“Nobody knew at that point what to believe but it suddenly hit home how serious this was.

“We started to get more information about what was happening in Paris and it was a very scary time.

“You just had visions of terrorists getting into the stadium and opening fire. We didn’t know if there were gunmen already inside.

“I heard at that point that a suicide bomber had tried to get inside the stadium and had detonated the bomb outside a turnstile.

“As far as we knew, the terrorists could be anywhere.

“When I finally got out of the stadium I didn’t know what would be waiting for us, we just didn’t know what was happening.

“I ran to a waiting car and it felt like the driver just closed his eyes and put his foot down.

“Every street we went down there were blue flashing lights all around us.

“By the time I made it to the hotel I was just in shock."

As the pictures of the attack started to make the news in the UK, Jamie said he was inundated with texts, tweets and Facebook messages from concerned friends and relatives.

“Looking back on it, the whole experience was very humbling,” he added.

“I know social media has its bad points, but I couldn’t believe the number of people who got in touch.

“You don’t realise so many people care."

He added: “I felt very lucky to get home in one piece but also very conscious of the fact so many people didn’t.

It was the most terrifying night of my life and my heart goes out to everyone who has been affected.”