acknowledgements

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CONGRATULATIONS
YOU HAVE JUST MET THE I.C.F.
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CASS
PENNANT
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First published in hardback in 2002
Published in paperback in 2003
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Dedicated to my football-hating wife, Elaine,
who has shown loyalty equal to that of any long-suffering
Hammers fan. And to my children, Marcus and Georgie.
Watching them grow up replaced the buzz I missed
going to football.
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acknowledgements
Blake Publishing for their patience and a special mention to Michelle.Thanks to
Sue Preston and Melissa Mudge for their help with transcribing and editing.
Julia Skeggs: amateur photographer whose pictures are worth a thousand memories.
Also to Grant Fleming who spent a full day getting the superb cover pictures just right.
Special thanks to all those who shared their experiences with me, particularly the
ones I have been unable to mention. You know who you are.
Bill Gardner: paviour mason
Andy Swallow: record company director
Big Ted: foreman electrician
Bunter Marks: warehouse manager
John Simpson (Simo): warehouse manager
Bill Stokes (Mouthy Bill): market trader
Grant Fleming: photographer and filmmaker
Brett Tidman: father of three
Micky Morgan (Ramsgate): building firm boss
Andrew Bowers: unemployed
Olajide Ikoli (Animal): contract cleaner
Nat Leslie: market trader
Mark Phillips (Woolwich): taxi driver
Lol Prior: record company director
Jon O’Brien (Jono): nightclub promoter
Steve Vaughan (Vaughny): incapacity beneficiary
John Turner: clothing company executive
Garry Bushell: TV critic and journalist
Vince Riordan: ex-Cockney Reject
Ian Stuttard (Butch): film producer/director
Tim McCarthy (Macca): company director
Terry Sherrin: interior refurbishment executive
Jimmy Smith: programme dealer
Bubbles: songwriter
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contents
PROLOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. HOW IT ALL BEGAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2. BILL GARDNER – THE ROCK WE ALL STOOD ON . . . . 45
3. GOING STOKE AWAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4. WHY DID YOU LEAVE AT TEN TO THREE, FOREST? . . 73
5. BRIGHTON RUCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6. COCKNEY REJECTS – OI! OI! OI! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7. WHEN THE BOOT GOES IN – WAR ON GEORDIES . . . .119
– QPR V NEWCASTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
– ORIENT V NEWCASTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
8. TAFF’S WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
– WHO THE FUCK ARE THEY? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
9. TOTTENHAM BOYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
– TOTTENHAM V LIVERPOOL V WEST HAM . . . . . . . . .162
– YIDS COME EAST HAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164
10. CHELSEA SINGERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
11. ABERDEEN AGGRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
12. WE ARE LEEDS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
– LEEDS AWAY ’81–’82 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198
– LEEDS HOME ’81–’82 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203
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13. CITY ’TIL I DIE – COOL CATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
14. SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES – GOONERS ’82 . . . . . . . .219
15. ENGLAND HAMMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
16. SCOUSE WARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
– LIVERPOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254
– EVERTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .262
17. GETTING THE BLUES – BRUM RIOT ’84 . . . . . . . . . . . . .265
18. C’MON MILLWALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279
– BUSHWHACKED AT BANK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289
– WALSALL WASH-OUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294
– CAUGHT OUT AT NEW CROSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .298
– REVENGE IS SWEET: LONDON BRIDGE
– FEBRUARY 4, 1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304
19. THE MAKING OF HOOLIGAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
20. SAMMY THE ENGINE AND THE MANCS . . . . . . . . . . . .331
21. MANCS COME PLAISTOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .345
22. THE FERRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .355
23. BLACK HAMMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .373
24. IT’S OVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .383
25. SHALL WE SING A SONG FOR YOU? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .401
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prologue
The Swansea ground looks a dump. We all gather near the
middle, with no one saying a word. In the away end we hear
the rest of West Ham chanting. All around where we’re
standing is a chilling silence. We’re all getting edgy; it’s
nearly 3 o’clock. All of a sudden the atmosphere changes. A
few big fat Taffies are confronting the front row of us… they
are now all around us. This really is it. One of the Stratford
lads leans over the crowd barrier and smashes a steaming
potato pie in a Taff’s face. The Taff screams and as he lifts
his head up, someone boots him straight in the face.
We charge down into the front of ’em. I see Shane’s arms
waving, I try and make my way to him but a big fat Taff
grabs my coat, taking me off balance. He’s now pulling me
towards him. I’m struggling to get my balance back to break
his hold. Next, I find myself on the floor, thinking that’s it,
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but as I scramble up there’s two chaps on top of the Taff.
I’m in, kicking, punching anything that moves. The whole
side of the ground is in uproar as our mob kicks it well off
with all these Taffy lumps.
The Welsh Old Bill come running in. They don’t touch the
Taffs, only us, beating us back with their truncheons.
Eventually, cornering us, they put us all back into the West
Ham supporters’ end.
Don’t bother watching the game, everyone is so charged
up. The Old Bill keep us locked in the ground for thirty
minutes after the game has ended. They tightly march us
back to our corners and then they don’t leave us. Using
police vehicles they escort us all the way to the motorway.
They aren’t going to get caught out again…
The service station is packed and it’s gone midnight. My
first reaction is, who is the firm? There must be at least 300
of ’em. It’s definitely going to go off, right off, but who the
fuck are they? The rest of our mob come in. This is it.
Swallow and his firm are surrounded.
I steam straight over and smash one of ’em on the head
with an ashtray. I immediately get hit with something.
People are screaming, the whole place has gone wild,
throwing anything they can get their hands on, cups, plates,
trays, everything. People are flying everywhere. I’m proud of
my mob, we’re right in the thick of it with the Brit boys. I’m
being hit, pulled and punched… but we seem to be pushing
them back. I’m lashing out at anyone.
There’s now a stand-off and both sides are throwing
things at each other. I sense one more charge and they’ll go.
We steam in again and, yeah, they turn, then run down
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CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE JUST MET THE I.C.F.
the stairs and out into the car park. I run back into the
main hall. It’s here I see some of them jump over the food
counter, fleeing into the kitchens to escape. Then I come
back on to the stairs, where Andy, Danny Tiderman and a
few others are pushing a pinball machine towards the
stairs. There’s a mob still at the bottom looking up when
this pinball machine finally gets pushed off the edge of the
stairs, crashing bumpety-bump, smack bang into ’em. The
other mob runs; that’s enough for them.
Congratulations! You have just met the InterCity Firm.
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introduction
At 6 o’clock on the morning of January 28, 2001, a fleet
of eight coaches from the Swallow coach company left
the Swallow hotel near the M25 with 400 of the oncenotorious InterCity Firm on board. We were on our
way to a nostalgic reunion organised by one Andy
Swallow. The event was Manchester United v West
Ham in the fourth round of the FA Cup in the Theatre
of Dreams. The name of United’s new stadium was an
apt choice when we took a record 9,000 fans up there.
After losing 7-1 and 4-1 in previous games, the
Hammers had no chance against United on paper, but
the East Enders all shared a dream of the country’s
biggest football stage.
The specially invited men on those coaches were
among the 9,000 Hammers fans travelling to the game all
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hoping for glory. This was no reunion with the intent to
make trouble. That was clear when I arrived and was met
by double-chinned men in Stone Island coats, worn more
for warmth than as any fashion statement. Bald, thinning
hair had replaced the once-lengthy locks and the
conversation was now along the lines of ‘How’s the kids?’,
‘Business tough?’, ‘Did you go to Ted’s fiftieth?’
Even so, to any neutral they still looked formidable
enough, they still had that inner menace, by their mere
presence. In fact, as a firm, they were still pretty
untouchable. For me, the I.C.F. was the only firm I would
have at my back. Sticking together for your mates was
something you never had to ask a West Ham fan to do.
Spurred on by the inaccuracies in accounts of the
exploits of West Ham’s InterCity Firm in various
publications, I decided to use my unique position as a
former member of the I.C.F. to set the record straight. So
before the I.C.F. became a fast-fading memory, I seized
the chance to write the first-ever book on the real I.C.F.
Those men on the coach remembered exactly how it was
back in the Seventies and Eighties, when the risk of
getting your head kicked in at a football match was very
real, and very much par for the course. Crazy days for
sure, mad days that some said were the best-ever days.
There was something special about being around the
I.C.F. Something more than being the best firm or mob.
What was it that set us aside from our rivals when it
came to our reputation as a firm? By the time I came to
complete this remarkable story, I had found my answer –
character. Character of the highest quality, old-fashioned
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CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE JUST MET THE I.C.F.
values and a loyalty no longer prevalent in today’s world.
Bottled, it would be priceless. And the I.C.F. was full of
characters.
This must have been what the filmmaker Ian ‘Butch’
Stuttard saw when he said we all had the ability to do
almost anything. This was our strength and the very
reason not one person should tell our story. In our gang
we were all walking stories.
So that no one can dispute the authenticity of the
events that the I.C.F. were involved in, those who were
there have told their stories on the pages that follow…
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019-44 Chapter 1 3.3
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Chapter 1
HOW IT ALL BEGAN