Legal chiefs were condemned yesterday over their decision to prosecute a landlady for putting up a football scarf in her pub.

Newcastle United fan Yvonne Mann is facing trial because she displayed a scarf poking fun at her club's rivals.

The black and white scarf sellotaped above the bar bears the words: "Sunderland are s****".

Sunderland supporters joined the chorus of disbelief at the decision to prosecute Mrs Mann over the scarf.

The Crown Prosecution Service is pressing ahead with a public order charge despite the licensee agreeing to remove it when asked by police.

Last night, MPs, soccer stars and fans attacked the decision as a waste of time and money.

The offending scarf was behind the bar in Newcastle's Adelphi pub, which Mrs Mann has turned into a Newcastle United shrine.

Since taking over the city centre pub four years ago, the 42-year-old has placed signed shirts, team photos, mirrors and other Magpies memorabilia around the walls.

In March, an officer from Northumbria Police went into the pub and asked the barmaid to remove the scarf, which had been up about three weeks, because it was likely to cause offence.

She immediately took it down but was told to tell her boss to go to the police station.

Mrs Mann was interviewed, then charged with a Section Five public order offence to which she pleaded not guilty earlier this month at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.

The charge is of using "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour within the sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress."

Mrs Mann said: "I know a lot of Sunderland fans and they all see it as a joke and are willing to testify for me in court. At first I was just flabbergasted at what was happening but now I feel absolutely devastated. "

Mrs Mann's solicitor John Wesencraft, of the firm Crowe, Humble and Wesencraft, said he could not comment but confirmed that the case was listed for a half-day trial at Newcastle Magistrates' Court in July.

Sunderland legend Gary Rowell, who scored a famous hat-trick at Newcastle's St James' Park in the 1980s, said: "It's pathetic. Have they not got anything better to do?"

Another Sunderland hero, Mick Horswill, said: "I can't believe it. It's not offensive - and I'm Sunderland through and through."

Ronnie Campbell, Blyth Valley's Labour MP and a Newcastle fan, said:"It's the law gone mad - a waste of public money."

The Crown Prosecution Service and Northumbria Police were both unavailable for comment.