10 October 2012 Last updated at 15:58 ET

Memorial held for New York Red Bulls coach Mike Jones

A local reporter said the service had been "filled with people wearing soccer jerseys and Liverpool Football Club scarves"

A memorial service has taken place in New York for a British football coach stabbed to death in the city.

Mike Jones, originally from Tarleton, Lancashire, was stabbed in a street attack in Manhattan on Sunday.

The 25-year-old was a youth coach with the New York Red Bulls and team officials joined around 500 mourners at First Baptist Church in White Plains, New York to pay tribute to him.

New York Red Bulls are one of the top teams in US Major League Soccer (MLS).

Parents paid tribute to Mike Jones at his memorial service

The service included a speech by Mr Jones's colleague and friend, John Birchall, who said he was "always smiling, laughing and joking".

He said the 25-year-old had been "just such a fun guy to be around all the time".

He also spoke of the hurt of losing a friend, adding that "your loved ones, even if you're having a fight or something, it's so important to tell them how much they mean to you".

'Friends and loved ones'

Robert Michelin, a reporter for the Daily Voice, said the service had been "filled with people wearing soccer jerseys and Liverpool Football Club scarves".

He said many of those at the service were wearing Red Bulls shirts with the coach's nickname Jonesy printed on the back.

Mike Jones was originally from Tarleton in Lancashire

He added that among the "hundreds of friends and loved ones" at the service were "the parents and children who Michael coached over the years".

Mr Jones, who coached the New York Red Bulls juniors, was declared dead on arrival at Bellevue Hospital, New York on Saturday following the street attack.

An NYPD spokesman said the coach had been found with a severed ear and stab wounds to his head and neck.

He added that the force's investigation into the coach's death was continuing.