PARDONED football fan Michael Shields was today adjusting to life as a free man.

A thin-looking Shields emerged smiling from prison yesterday after Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced a Royal Pardon.

The 22-year-old's release means he is "technically and morally innocent" of the attempted murder of waiter Martin Georgiev in Bulgaria following Liverpool's 2005 Champions League win.

He was sentenced to 15 years but the term was later reduced to 10.

Describing his time in prison as "a living hell", Shields last night thanked his tireless supporters and declared: "Today is the first day of the rest of my life."

It was reported that the Liverpool fan revealed he hopes to start rebuilding his life.

"I want a job as soon as I can. I'll do anything just to get into a routine again."

He added: "I don't want to spend my life being Michael Shields, jailed football fan. I don't want to walk in the shadow of it for ever."

At a press conference yesterday, Shields praised his supporters, saying: "Your voices were heard. Thanks to you, I knew I would never walk alone. Thank you."

According to Shields' solicitor John Weate and barrister Peter Weatherby, the justice secretary took the decision after receiving new "corroborative" evidence during a meeting with his family at the end of August.

The evidence was that members of Shields' family went to visit convicted racist Graham Sankey at his Liverpool home where he admitted committing the crime Shields was jailed for.