Neil MacNamara, 39, pleaded guilty to triggering the alarm at the five-star hotel where Queen’s Park Rangers players were staying.

He admitted causing criminal damage and making a false and malicious fire call at the Celtic Manor hotel in Newport, South Wales.

Some QPR players were woken by the alarm before they were due to play Cardiff City in the second division play-off final at the Millennium Stadium last month. QPR lost 1-0 after extra time.

MacNamara, a lifelong Cardiff City supporter, was seen on closed-circuit television at the hotel setting off the fire alarm. Police discovered he had booked into the hotel under a false name.

MacNamara, of Nantgarw, near Cardiff, appeared at Newport Magistrates’ Court to admit the charges. But he denied that the hoax alarm was anything to do with the big football match later that day.

Magistrates have the power to ban him from attending matches if it is proved that his crimes were linked to football.

Paul Moore, for the prosecution, said: “The offence itself is not the most complicated. It is the background which causes difficulty. There will be legal argument whether the offence is football-related. The prosecution will suggest that it is and we will be inviting a football banning order.”

MacNamara will be sentenced after the July 16 hearing. He worked as a personal minder to Sam Hammam, Cardiff City’s chairman. He has a conviction for threatening and abusive behaviour at a Cardiff City match and was banned from all matches for 12 months five years ago.

Mr Hammam vowed to stand by him and “convert” other hooligans. But he sacked him when he was jailed for six months for possessing a CS gas canister and driving a stolen £22,000 sports car.

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