Former Man City Hooligan Named Surprise Firm As Most Dangerous
A former Manchester City hooligan snubbed "the big clubs" when naming the toughest football firm he encountered.
Anthony Phythian, from Miles Platting in Manchester, was issued with two different bans from attending games after being involved in football violence.
In 2007, at an FA Cup quarter final against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, he invaded the pitch in protest with the aim of getting the game abandoned as City headed towards a 2-0 loss.
He was unsuccessful and was arrested and subsequently given a banning order.
Advert
Phythian, who went to his first game at Maine Road at the age of seven, was in the thick of the action and after beginning fighting in the streets in school over football before taking it to the terraces.
He battled with many firms over the years but it was the "smaller teams" who he found to be the most dangerous, name dropping the likes of Barnsley, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough and Rotherham as some of the "rough outfits".
"Do you know what, it was never teams you think, like the big clubs, it was always teams like Barnsley or tough towns like Middlesbrough," he said on The Content Cast.
"Middlesbrough would bring 50 lads and they weren’t a big firm but f***ing hell, just every one of them was just f***ing at it. Just a close knit firm.”
He added: "Just small teams like that, Huddersfield as well. Smaller teams like that and smaller Yorkshire clubs as well. Barnsley, Rotherham, just rough little towns.”
Man City fan socialised with bitter rivals before fighting
As a die-hard City fan, Phythiand developed a "real hatred" for rivals Manchester United, naming it as the “tastiest” fixture in the calendar.
But he became friends with a number of United's top members and would regularly socialise with them when the fans weren't tearing strips out of another on matchday.
He explained: "Yeah, the mad thing is, any time when we are not playing, I spoke to lads, United’s firm, who would speak to each other on the phone and arrange where we are going and where we are going to meet.
“We would go and have a pint with each other and we would shake hands and everything else and then the day of the game they are f***ing bottling each other.
“It is mad when you say it like that, but, that was it. That is what we were all there for.”
Raised by his grandparents, he eventually put the hooligan days behind him and fathers two daughters and a son.
Leaving drugs and alcohol in his rear view mirror, Phythian became a professional boxer at the age of 37, losing his first fight against Ryan Hibbert in 2021.
He then won his next four fights in a row on points before suffering two consecutive stoppage defeats and retiring from the sport.
Josh Lawless