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A Birmingham-based digital firm was approached to put convicted thug Paul Mitchell's face on its network of big screens after he punched Jack Grealish.

Elonex Outdoor Media confirmed it was approached by email after the 27-year-old ran onto the pitch to attack the Aston Villa captain at St Andrew's on Sunday.

It was not known who made the offer - said by a source to have been worth £5,000 - or what the motive was, as Mitchell was led away and arrested when the incident happened.

In any event, the offer was dismissed by the company, which has a network of more than 3,000 screens nationwide.

Mitchell was jailed for 14 weeks after pleading guilty to assault and illegally entering the field of play at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Monday, March 11.

He was also banned from attending football matches for ten years, received a lifetime ban from Blues and was ordered to pay Grealish £100 compensation.

(Image: Sky Sports)

Elonex is a 30-year-old company with its headquarters at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmngham.

It specialises in large screen advertising nationwide, but has a dozen sites on Birmingham's main roads as well as contracts at sites to manage digital screens at city destinations including Buillring, Grand Central and Arena Birmingham.

Following a tip-off received by BirminghamLive, a spokesman for Elonex confirmed a written offer had been made asking the company to post the picture of the attacker on its giant screens in return for £5,000.

"The offer came through on Sunday when, unusually, we had several senior people in covering Crufts at the NEC and the badminton at Arena Birmingham," he said.

"We wouldn't do that (post an individual's picture) and didn't get into any conversations.

"We would not want to fan the flames."

(Image: Internet unkown/ Mirror)

Talking generally, he added: "Digital technology means we can change things quicker than a man using paste to put up posters, but it's also a question of whether there is space to add anything else."

In 2016, the company launched a bomb-proof recycling bin designed to contain the blast of a terrorist bomb and eliminate its potential devastation to a city street.

The bin was also developed with a display screen that could help to direct evacuations of busy areas.

Angry football fans have traditionally taken to the skies when they want to get their message across - and hired planes to fly banners.

One of the most recent cases was in March 2017, when a banner reading 'No contract. WengerOut' was flown over the Hawthorns during an Arsenal away game at West Bromwich Albion.

Other clubs targeted by fans hiring planes to fly banners over football matches include Manchester United (Glazers out, May 2010; Wrong One - Moyes Out, 2014), Blackburn Rovers (Steve Kean Out, 2011) and Liverpool (Rodgers Out Rafa In, 2015).