Running with the Firm: My Double Life as an Undercover Hooligan
"Of course I'm a f**king hooligan, you pr**k. I am a hooligan...there I've said it...I'm a hooligan. And, do you know why? Because that's my f**king job." In 1995, a film called I.D., about an ambitious young copper who was sent undercover to track down the "generals" of a football hooligan gang, achieved cult status for its sheer brutality and unsettling insight into the dark and often bloody side of the so-called beautiful game.The film was so shocking it was hard to believe the mindless events that took place could ever happen in the real world. Well, believe it now... Almost twenty years on, the man behind the film has explosively revealed that the script was largely a true story. That man, James Bannon, was the ambitious young copper. The football club was Millwall F.C., and the gang that he infiltrated was The Bushwackers, among the most brutal and fearless in English football. In Running with the Firm, Bannon shares his intense and dangerous journey into the underworld of football hooliganism where sickening levels of violence prevail over anything else. He introduces you to the hardest thugs from football’s most notorious gangs, tells all about the secret and almost comical police operations that were meant to bring them down, and, how once you’re on the inside, getting out from the mob proves to be the biggest mission of all. A disturbing but compelling read, this is the book that proves fact really is stranger than fiction.
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Running with the Firm: My Double Life as an Undercover Hooligan
"Of course I'm a f**king hooligan, you pr**k. I am a hooligan...there I've said it...I'm a hooligan. And, do you know why? Because that's my f**king job." In 1995, a film called I.D., about an ambitious young copper who was sent undercover to track down the "generals" of a football hooligan gang, achieved cult status for its sheer brutality and unsettling insight into the dark and often bloody side of the so-called beautiful game.The film was so shocking it was hard to believe the mindless events that took place could ever happen in the real world. Well, believe it now... Almost twenty years on, the man behind the film has explosively revealed that the script was largely a true story. That man, James Bannon, was the ambitious young copper. The football club was Millwall F.C., and the gang that he infiltrated was The Bushwackers, among the most brutal and fearless in English football. In Running with the Firm, Bannon shares his intense and dangerous journey into the underworld of football hooliganism where sickening levels of violence prevail over anything else. He introduces you to the hardest thugs from football’s most notorious gangs, tells all about the secret and almost comical police operations that were meant to bring them down, and, how once you’re on the inside, getting out from the mob proves to be the biggest mission of all. A disturbing but compelling read, this is the book that proves fact really is stranger than fiction.
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Running with the Firm: My Double Life as an Undercover Hooligan

Running with the Firm: My Double Life as an Undercover Hooligan

by James Bannon
Running with the Firm: My Double Life as an Undercover Hooligan

Running with the Firm: My Double Life as an Undercover Hooligan

by James Bannon

Paperback(Reprint)

$24.99 
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Overview

"Of course I'm a f**king hooligan, you pr**k. I am a hooligan...there I've said it...I'm a hooligan. And, do you know why? Because that's my f**king job." In 1995, a film called I.D., about an ambitious young copper who was sent undercover to track down the "generals" of a football hooligan gang, achieved cult status for its sheer brutality and unsettling insight into the dark and often bloody side of the so-called beautiful game.The film was so shocking it was hard to believe the mindless events that took place could ever happen in the real world. Well, believe it now... Almost twenty years on, the man behind the film has explosively revealed that the script was largely a true story. That man, James Bannon, was the ambitious young copper. The football club was Millwall F.C., and the gang that he infiltrated was The Bushwackers, among the most brutal and fearless in English football. In Running with the Firm, Bannon shares his intense and dangerous journey into the underworld of football hooliganism where sickening levels of violence prevail over anything else. He introduces you to the hardest thugs from football’s most notorious gangs, tells all about the secret and almost comical police operations that were meant to bring them down, and, how once you’re on the inside, getting out from the mob proves to be the biggest mission of all. A disturbing but compelling read, this is the book that proves fact really is stranger than fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780091951528
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Publication date: 08/01/2014
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 326
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

James Bannon worked for five years with the Metropolitan Police, spending a large amount of time as an undercover police officer, before becoming an actor, comedian, property developer, and proprietor of his own commercial airline.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 Beginnings 5

2 You In or Out? 9

3 Kick-off 15

4 Leeds Away 21

5 Charlie 29

6 Hull Disaster; Ipswich Triumph 33

7 Gerry and the Summer of '87 37

8 The Puffin 43

9 Dave, Stu and Mark 51

10 Phone Calls and Hire Cars 57

11 Leicester Away 65

12 Leading the Charge 73

13 Manchester City Coverts 81

14 Convincing Cover 91

15 You're Old Bill 105

16 Head vs Heart 115

17 Dave Evades Arrest 121

18 Rivals 125

19 Flying Squad 141

20 Millwall vs Leeds 151

21 We Three Kings 159

22 Arsenal in the Cup 171

23 You re Nicked 179

24 Us and Them 185

25 Beside the Sea 189

26 Promotion 197

27 The Days of Summer 205

28 What a Fucking Mess 211

29 Division One, Here We Come 219

30 The Boro 229

31 You're a Hooligan 241

32 A New Home 249

33 West Ham at Home 259

34 Everton Away 271

35 I'm Old Bill 287

36 Sussed 301

37 Game Over 311

Epilogue 321

Acknowledgements 325

About the Author 326

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