Terrace Legends - The Most Terrifying And Frightening Book Ever Written About Soccer Violence. Cass Pennant
and on to the train. The fighting was still going on as the Chelsea team boarded the train for the journey back to London.
WHICH IS THE BEST STADIUM YOU’VE BEEN TO?
Charlton because they sold Stella Artois.
WHO ARE THE FAIREST COPPERS YOU’VE COME ACROSS AT A MATCH?
Plymouth Old Bill were very fair. If they caught you fighting they’d tell you to fuck off and kick you up the arse. Even though I was bit on the arse by a police dog, I’d say they’re one of the best set of coppers I’ve come across.
AND THE WORST OLD BILL?
The Scousers. They were horrible cunts, especially their sergeants with them canes they carried.
WHAT WOULD HAVE STOPPED YOU GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE BOYS AT MATCHES?
Nothing, I liked it. I looked forward all week to going to football – it was a laugh. It was the best days of my life. My reputation exceeded me and that’s why not many people ever had a fight with me. I could walk into a ground, stand in front of a mob of rival fans, not say a word, and they would flee in absolute terror. I loved it. The only time it never worked was at my court case when I received ten years from the Right Honourable Sir George Schindler.
DESCRIBE SOME OF THE METHODS AND TACTICS USED BY THE POLICE AND AUTHORITIES TO STOP FOOTBALL VIOLENCE, AND DO YOU THINK THEY WORK?
CCTV. You can get caught on camera doing something and a week or six months later you can be arrested.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SICKENED BY SOMETHING YOU’VE WITNESSED AT A GAME?
I don’t know about sickened, but I was a bit pissed off when someone threw themselves on the tracks and committed suicide on the Circle Line [London Underground] and I missed the beginning of a match. I was sickened by that.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE FOOTBALL SONG OR CHANT AND WHICH IS THE WORST YOU CAN RECALL HEARING FROM ANOTHER TEAM?
My favourite is ‘You’re going to get your fucking heads kicked in’ and the worst has got to be ‘One man went to mow’.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE BAND/RECORD DURING YOUR FOOTBALL DAYS?
‘Ballroom Blitz’ by The Sweet, Elton John’s ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)’ and Gary Glitter’s ‘I’m the Leader of the Gang’ (Come on, Come on …). I remember in 1974 Jimmy Hill saying, ‘and they’re still fighting as they sing the new Gary Glitter song “Come on, Come on” and they’re all on the pitch’. That was a piece of classic Match of the Day broadcasting.
WHO WAS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVOURITE PLAYER?
Peter Osgood – he was fantastic. I loved him and still do. I’ve met him and he’s a gentleman.
WHERE DO YOU THINK THE NEW ENGLISH NATIONAL STADIUM SHOULD BE BUILT AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS REGARDING THE WEMBLEY FIASCO?
It should be at Wembley and should just have been revamped and modernised. We should have our national stadium in the capital city, which everyone knows is London.
MARTIN KING MEETS
CLUB: EVERTON
ANDY NICHOLLS
THE MEET
Cass and I both met Andy up in Liverpool when we were doing a bit for the 2002 Writing on the Wall literary festival, and he came over and introduced himself to us. He told us he was in the process of writing a book himself. Since then the book, called Scally: Confessions of a Category C Football Hooligan, has been released and caused quite a stir up in Merseyside. Here’s what Andy had to say.
BACKGROUND
I’m currently banned from Goodison Park for life and have been arrested nineteen times for football-related incidents. I served a jail sentence for an attack on Arsenal fans on Blackstock Road at Highbury in 1989, was banned from every ground in the country for two years following the Arsenal stretch, and have been deported from Belgium, Sweden and Iceland for football-related offences.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE TERRACE FASHION?
Lacoste tracksuits. That’s a joke, by the way. All the sports gear in the late ’70s and early ’80s was top-notch as very few wore it or could afford it.
WHAT’S THE WORST FASHION YOU’VE EVER SEEN ON THE TERRACES?
The Burberry hats and Stone Island clobber that the plastic hooligans wear today makes me sick.
DESCRIBE YOUR WORST FEELING AT A GAME.
I’d go for any of the following: 1–0 down against the Red Shite and the Kop blurting out their fucking anthem; getting nicked at Wembley five minutes before the kick-off at the Cup Final; ten of us going in Man. City’s end and getting sussed before the other 200 Everton boys had got in.
HAVE YOU EVER INCURRED ANY SERIOUS INJURIES OR BEEN BADLY BEATEN UP AT A MATCH?
I got slashed on the arm at Southampton once, which was bad, and I’ve taken a few bottles to my head over the years. My worst injury was when I fucked my back up slinging a concrete slab at a few Yids who were ready to cut me up. I had to sleep on a board for six months the pain was that bad. Although not at the match, I got in a fight with some Bristol City fans when I was working there, and one hit me with an iron rod and nearly took my head off. In hospital the doctor said an inch lower and I would have died.
HAS YOUR OWN SIDE EVER BEEN INVOLVED IN A FULL-SCALE RIOT?
In the mid-80s there were too many to mention but they were never on the scale of some of the footage I’ve seen of the likes of Leeds and Millwall. Pre-season 2001/2, though, we had it in Brussels with Anderlecht and after the game hundreds of Everton had the Belgium bizzies on the run and took the place. It was as good as you could get – unbelievable, really, in this day and age. I wish we had those numbers every week, but those days are long gone in this country. I was also at Heysel but that’s best left alone.
DESCRIBE THE BEST TAKING OF AN END YOU’VE EVER WITNESSED.
England v Wales in 1980. Five hundred Scousers went on the Wales end, took it and spent the rest of the match fighting to keep it – not from the Welsh but from the Mancs, who came on and took the other half ten minutes after us. It was the last home international between the two countries and I’m not fucking surprised – it was bedlam.
WHICH WAS YOUR OWN TEAM’S POPULAR END?
Behind either goal in the ’70s. The Gwladys Street was the main home end, where seven Millwall were stabbed in 1973 when they had a go but failed to take it. No one else ever got close to taking it. The Park End was my favourite. It was mixed up until about 1980 and was a fucking evil place unless you had serious numbers.