West Ham hooligan who had '400 fights' reveals the toughest fanbase he faced as 'scariest' incident recalled

Football hooliganism was a constant scourge of the English game throughout the 1970s and 1980s and a handful of legendary figures have spent the last 35 years shining a light on a world most fans never see.

West Ham had a notorious firm in the days of the terraces. The Inter City Firm (ICF) has been immortalised in fictional drama as well as the hoolie-lit craze of the early 2000s but the real human stories behind the pitched battles and terrace punch-ups have been given a new lease of life in the age of YouTube and podcasts.

ICF veteran Bill Gardner regards himself as a West Ham supporter rather than a hooligan but was considered one of the most fearsome fighters during the heyday of hooliganism.

Now 70, Gardner told former professional boxer Tony Bellew his story as part of BBC Radio 5 Live's Gangster series.

"Away supporters used to be attacked nearly everywhere in this country. Some places worse than others," said Gardner.

"Sometimes we (West Ham's Inter City Firm) did well, other times we didn’t do so well, but they know, everyone knows, that they never done us. And nobody done me.

"I think I’ve had over 400 fights in my life, and I never got beaten. I’ve never had the fear that normal human beings have. I was never frightened when I was with my mates at West Ham."

The Boleyn Ground was home to West Ham from 1904 to 2016. Image: PA Images

Gardner explained to Bellew that his childhood was a difficult one. He lost his sister to leukemia at four years of age and was frequently beaten by his mother. His scariest experience didn't come on the terraces and terraced streets of English football, but at home.

"One night she was having a really bad turn and she started coming through the door with a bread knife like a scene from The Shining," he recalled.

"My dad was crying. He said, ‘You've got to go now, Bill. She’s going to kill you.’"

Gardner later found his way into West Ham's infamous firm and violence became a way of life. He has admitted to a degree of admiration for a surprising football foe.

"I think Millwall [were the toughest] when I think of some of those games we played," he told Anything Goes in 2021.

“More than 300 on each side, you know what I mean, when we went over there they used to all turn out and I’ve got nothing but respect for them, I think they are all alright.”