The soccer fan who took on practice knifeman along with his naked fingers and was stabbed seven occasions because the attacker requested him: ‘Do you need to die?’

A Nottingham Forest fan has told how the Huntingdon train attacker shouted ‘Do you want to die?’ as he stabbed him seven times.

Stephen Crean, 61, has been named as one of the victims of the knife rampage, alongside Scunthorpe United defender Jonathan Gjoshe and a ‘hero’ rail worker.

He said he tried to protect other passengers – armed with nothing but his fists – because ‘it did not dawn on me not to’.

Anthony Williams, 32, was today charged with 11 counts of attempted murder – 10 from the alleged attack on an LNER train on Saturday evening, and one from just hours earlier in London.

Scunthorpe United confirmed that its defender Mr Gjoshe, 22, was one of those stabbed on the train.

He was reportedly travelling to London after playing for Bottesford Town – a club he is also registered to – in Scunthorpe on Saturday.

The footballer was slashed across his bicep and had to have an operation in hospital, where he remains in a non-life-threatening condition, according to the BBC.

Meanwhile, an LNER worker is also in hospital after he tried to protect passengers in the cafe area on board the service from Doncaster to London.

‘He went to work on Saturday morning to do his job and he left work a hero,’ Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said.

‘I know the British Transport Police have reviewed CCTV footage from what happened and he literally put himself in harm’s way. There will be people who are alive today because of his actions.’

Speaking on Times Radio, she confirmed the man was in a ‘critical but stable’ condition.

Recalling the horrific scenes, Mr Crean, who was returning from watching Nottingham Forest draw 2-2 with Manchester United, said he heard the screams of injured passengers and walked through the buffet car to a carriage where he came face to face with the attacker.

‘He had a great big oversized kitchen knife – it was as if it was a Japanese sword or something. He came towards me and said to me, “Do you want to die?”,’ Mr Crean recalled.

He said he confronted the attacker to give another passenger time to close the buffet door behind him – allowing others to hide and potentially preventing dozens of injuries.

Mr Crean, who was subsequently locked in with the knifeman, was stabbed in his left hand, three times in his back, once on his bottom and twice in his head before he managed to find an empty toilet to hide in.

He lay on the floor losing blood, and about ten minutes later, opened the door to find armed police pointing guns at him.

‘There was big banging and kicking and shouting outside. [Armed police] came on board and I said my name, and they said, “Yeah, Stephen, you can open the door”. But even when I opened the door, they had the gun pointing at me to make sure it was me and I hadn’t put on a voice,’ he recalled.

‘They opened the door just for me, it was clever. They didn’t open the whole train, otherwise he’s going to get off.’

Mr Crean was taken by ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where he was discharged from on Sunday morning.

‘I got caught on my fingers. He took a swing at this, and a swing at that. I got caught on the head,’ he said. 

‘I was lucky. I got caught on the back a few times. They caught me a few times. The front of me, and my other arm. In the face and everything.’

He added: ‘I’m going to need plastic surgery. One finger doesn’t look clever. I’ve had stitches on them all.

‘I don’t know how long it’s going to take.’

Mr Crean said he had no opportunity to get away to a place of safety when the man approached with a ‘sword-type thing’ but he was able to get into a train toilet after the confrontation.

Of his decision to fight back, he said: ‘Probably not many people would’ve done it, but then you’re leaving people behind you vulnerable.’

He has been described as a hero and said: ‘It’s lovely that people are saying nice things about me. 

‘One woman messaged me on Facebook and said, ‘You probably saved my daughter’s life’. I never get emotional, but that got to me. 

‘I’m not brave. There’s braver people than me. The train guard, the police, and then the guys that got me off the train.’ 

Footage from Huntingdon station shows another brave railway worker urging passengers to run for their lives and approaching the suspect after the train was pulled into an emergency stop.

The alleged knifeman calmly strolls down the platform in a black hooded jacket at around 7.40pm. Passengers can be seen fleeing, while the staff member in a high-visibility jacket stays facing the man.

‘They’re on their way, don’t worry,’ he reassures passengers, referring to armed police who quickly swarmed the station.

Of the 11 people who were injured on the train, three have been discharged, while eight remain in hospital.

CCTV footage exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail allegedly shows a man believed to be Williams entering Ritzy Barbers, in Fletton, Peterborough, on Friday evening at 7.14pm – minutes after police were called to the stabbing of a 14-year-old in the city centre. 

Barber shop staff then called police around 90 minutes after he left – but Cambridgeshire Constabulary did not send officers, instead asking the shop to upload CCTV online.

Barber Cody Greene, 23, told the Daily Mail the same man returned to the shop at 9.25am on Saturday November 1. Police were called again, but by the time they arrived the man had left. 

This happened around 10 hours before prosecutors allege Williams began his train rampage, and more than eight hours after the 32-year-old allegedly stabbed a man at a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station in the capital early that morning. 

Police have today launched a probe to establish whether the three incidents in the city before the alleged rampage are linked – and are facing accusations that they could have thwarted the attack had they acted quicker.