Author:James Bannon
'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 undercover cop. 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.
A must-read for fans
—— Natasha Harding , The SunBrutal and searingly honest
—— Sunday ExpressAn entertaining and interesting first-hand account of a key point in British football history
—— FootyMatters.comAn amazing account of football hooliganism in its height and a brilliant read
Rather interesting book
—— Libby Purves , BBC Radio 4, MidweekDiligent, highly readable ... Immortal strips away the myth to show the human Best, Hamilton is a guarantee of quality...
—— Financial TimesAccomplished ... the attention to detail characteristic of Hamilton's work energises his story.
—— Daily TelegraphHamilton writes sympathetically and insightfully ... he has a smart turn of phrase and an uncanny ability to describe accurately and compellingly what happened during a game.
—— The HeraldThe author deserves great credit for writing not a sycophantic paean to Best, but an accomplished well-researched account which doesn’t shy away from the footballer’s alcoholism and his propensity to be violent towards women.
—— Press AssociationThoughtful. 4 stars.
—— Mail on SundayHamilton is a guarantee of quality.
—— Financial TimesHamilton is a terrific writer ... Immortal is a fine biography and a fascinating portrait of a dawning age of sporting celebrity.
—— WSCImmortal is undoubtedly the most satisfying life of George Best.
—— GuardianThe atmosphere of the Sixties is re-created brilliantly.
—— The TimesHamilton through the stories and backstories of others broadens his horizons to explain the phenomenon that was Best and the world that destroyed him. Offering up new material and new perspective, Hamilton, as one reviewer would opined, mastered biography.
—— Irish ExaminerDickinson is tender to the memory of the Essex lad who, for a breathtaking instant, was glorious
—— Ain Finlayson and Kate Saunders , Saga MagazineMatt's work is the most impressive West Ham book of the year, a genuine and sincere attempt to get to the root of the man. It is an excellent, thought-provoking book
—— Knees Up Mother BrownA compelling and complete account
—— SportIn The Man in Full, acclaimed football writer Matt Dickinson traces the journey of this Essex boy, peeling away the layers of legend and looking at Moore’s life from all sides – in triumph, in failure, in full
—— Bert Wright , NudgeOutstanding... this excellent biography comes very close to describing the real Bobby Moore
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