The rampaging Rangers fans who fought police in Manchester’s Battle of Piccadilly on Wednesday night were a disgrace and could threaten England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup, the Prime Minister said yesterday.

Thousands of bruised and hungover fans, in some cases still clutching cans of lager, began the journey home yesterday — as Manchester began the inquest into how the Uefa Cup Final carnival turned sour. More than 100,000 Glasgow Rangers fans — more than twice the expected number — had crammed into the city centre, turning the streets into a sea of blue before their team’s 2-0 defeat by Zenit St Petersburg in the City of Manchester Stadium.

The trouble began when the signal failed on the big screen in Piccadilly Gardens, one of eight, where more than 10,000 fans had gathered, 15 minutes before kick-off. Engineers trying to fix the fault had to retreat when they were pelted with beer bottles.

A “hard core” of several hundred people went on the rampage, raining bottles and cans on riot police moving in to quell the disturbance.

Sixty officers with riot shields made a dozen baton charges to force the group back towards Piccadilly Gardens. Sporadic violence and running battles between the two sides spilt over into nearby streets late into the night.

Closed-circuit television footage released by Greater Manchester Police showed an officer being isolated and stamped on by a baying mob described by a police chief as acting like a pack of wolves. As fans held their arms aloft in seeming triumph, the policeman managed to escape with a broken arm.

One Russian fan was stabbed in the stadium; his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. Fifteen police officers were treated for injuries.

Last night Greater Manchester Police said that 11 Rangers fans, all men, had been charged, seven with public order offences, one with assault, one with being drunk and one with throwing a missile.

A further 11 fans had been bailed pending inquiries. Another 12 were cautioned and seven, including one Zenit fan, were released without charge.

Commuters arrived for work yesterday morning to find the city centre buried under 100 tonnes of beer bottles, cans and other detritus, amid pools of urine.

The political fallout moved swiftly from Manchester Town Hall, where Sir Richard Leese, the council leader, came under fire for the city’s lack of preparedness for such large numbers, to Downing Street. It became clear that the city’s authorities, which had heralded a £25 million commercial windfall, had been planning for half the number of ticketless fans who eventually journeyed south to join the party.

Many had begun drinking before breakfast and continued throughout the day. The strain on the emergency services was such that, by 9.30pm, ambulances could not enter the city centre without a police escort.

At his monthly Downing Street press conference, Gordon Brown suggested that the law governing drinking in public would have to be reviewed.

“What happened was a disgrace,” the Prime Minister said. “It was a minority but it was completely unacceptable and for that to happen in a public place where the Manchester authorities had made available the facilities for people to enjoy the match. They have good reason, both the police and the authorities, to be very angry about what happened.”

Mr Brown said that he wanted to do everything he could to avoid the football World Cup bid being jeopardised.

Mr Brown said: “We do have laws that enable us to control drinking in public places where there is a risk of disorder. We will have to look at these laws for the future. Whatever the carnival atmosphere was at the beginning, the fact that it degenerated as a result of the minority being engaged in violence will lead us to have a look at this.”

Sir Richard reacted sharply to what he described as an appalling night for the cities of Manchester and Glasgow, cancelling the broadcast on big screens in the city centre of the Champions League final. There had been plans to erect fan zones for the Manchester United v Chelsea match next Wednesday but in the circumstances, Sir Richard said, that would no longer be acceptable.

Sir Richard defended the council’s organisation of the event. When the big screen failed, they had been able to transport 11,000 fans from Piccadilly Gardens to the Velodrome, closer to the stadium, to watch the match.

“Despite that, a couple of hundred so-called fans — we can call them yobs — stayed in the city centre. They began to cause trouble, assaulting and kicking police officers,” the council leader said. “This is a very small minority who caused us serious trouble”.

Justine Curran, the Assistant Chief Constable, said that she had seen her officers pursued up streets by a baying mob of 200 people. Their response in the circumstances was appropriate.

“The people on that CCTV footage acted like a pack of wolves,” she said. “Whatever happened earlier there was no excuse for this level of violence. We had to act decisively.”