With bonfire night approaching this Friday, it’s very much the time of year of young people playing with fireworks while their idols line up to tell them not to.

This year, however, controversial Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has managed to fill both briefs.

Following the widespread reports of a firework being let off in Balotelli’s bathroom on the eve of the Manchester derby, the star has been recruited to front a Manchester-based campaign to encourage youngsters to follow the firework safety code.

Responding to the reports, Balotelli told Campaign Live: “I didn't set any fireworks off, it was a friend of mine. Luckily, nobody was injured, and my friend apologised to me for the damage to my house. It was a really stupid thing for him to do, someone could have been really hurt, and I was really, really angry with him about it.”

The regional campaign, Safe4Autumn, was set up as a partnership between Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and several other organisations including the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The partnership has produced a range of educational tools for teachers to spread the message of safe firework use, as well as incentives including a competition to win an iPad.

The video embedded here shows the potential danger of fireworks, depicting a hand being blown off by one, and was shown to a group of school children as a part of the wider campaign.

The message from Balotelli was straightforward however: “Children should not mess with fireworks. They can be very dangerous if they are not used in the right way. People should follow the firework code.”