Fearless Forest fan Stephen Crean bravely tackled the knife attacker as he rampaged through the train on Saturday night and was stabbed six times in his efforts to prevent further victims

More than £11,000 has been raised for the hero Huntingdon train passenger who fought off the attacker as he asked him: “Do you want to die?” Brave Stephen Crean, 61, approached the knifeman with nothing but his fists as other passengers fled for their lives.

Witnesses told how Stephen, dressed in a Nottingham Forest tracksuit, ignored warnings from other passengers as he declared: “I’m going to go confront him.” He was stabbed six times in the attack and was dubbed an “absolute hero” by actress Vicky McClure.

A fundraising page set up in his honour by fellow Forest fans has raised more than £11,000 by Monday evening and continues to rise. One social media user wrote: “This bloke should never have to buy a pint again.”

Stephen said he confronted the attacker after seeing other terrified passengers run down the train screaming and tried to fight him off, preventing more potential victims.

The have-a-go-hero told the Telegraph: “All of a sudden the door of the carriage opened, people ran past me and they were shouting: ‘Run, run, run, man’s got knife’. So I let these people run past me, families, women, young lads.

“Finally they had all packed into the buffet car and the toilets and locked the doors, as you do, and so that was it for me. I could see somebody on the floor behind him with what looked like blood on them.

“He got nearer and nearer to me, so I went a little bit further back. He came up, he came up. And by that point I was back at the buffet car but they were making sure that door was locked. I heard it click and that’s when it kicked off.

“It was me with him. He had a great big oversized kitchen knife – it was as if it was a Japanese sword or something. He came towards me and said to me, ‘Do you want to die?’. That’s what he said.

“He just looked pretty moody, pretty angry. He was on a mission. He knew what he wanted to do and he was going to do it. And then, all of a sudden, this knife comes out, and I went straight for him. I tried to punch him, this and that. I was trying to hold his arm.”

Stephen said he was stabbed in his left hand, three times in his back, once on his bottom and twice in his head. Police said 11 people were injured in the horror. Three have now been discharged from hospital.

A fundraising page set up in his honour reads: “Steve has been a regular fixture at Forest home and away games for many years, making the long journey up from London, and is well known amongst our fanbase.

“This page has been set up by a group of Forest fans who know Steve and would like to provide him with some financial support whilst he recovers from his injuries.”

Anthony Williams, 32, has appeared in court charged with 11 counts of attempted murder following the attack in Cambridgeshire on Saturday evening, and a separate incident in London hours earlier.

He has also been charged with two counts of possession of a bladed article and one count of actual bodily harm in connection to an alleged assault on a police officer following the train attack. Click here to donate to the fundraising page.