Rangers and the Famous ICF: My Life With Scotland's Most-Feared Football Hooligan Gang Read Online Free PDF

lads he had an almost pathological hatred of all things Celtic. He played in a couple of flute bands, The Sons of Ulster and the YCV, and he was a staunch supporter of the Loyalist cause in Northern Ireland. You may have seen him in a
Panorama
programme about football hooliganism, which was broadcast sometime in the 1990s.
    My abiding memory of Barry stems from the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Hibs in September 1985. We were walking back to Waverley station after the game when we were ambushed by a group of CCS who had disguised themselves in Rangers colours. It was a very dangerous situation but Barry held us together, enabling us to repel wave after wave of attacks. Then when it looked like we could lose it he played his trump card, spraying CS gas into the Hibs front line. Those cunts were choking and spluttering and cursing but their consternation wasnothing compared to a police horse, which reared up on its hind legs after inhaling some of the gas. It looked fucking funny but I bet the poor old nag wasn’t laughing.
    Sadly, Barry is one of many boys no longer with us. He died a few years ago, around 2006 or 2007, but had given up hooliganism a long time before that. He had been attracted to the rave scene in the early 1990s and after that he never came back to the ICF.
    RIP, Barry. You are a legend.
Harky
    What can I say about this man that hasn’t already been said by other mobs the length and breadth of Scotland?
    He is probably the most famous Rangers hooligan of them all, more famous even than Barry. He is tall and has a blond mane that ensured he always stood out in a crowd. In the early days Harky modelled himself on Paul Weller in his Style Council years, sporting the same hairstyle and clothes.
    He was from Shettleston, which I regard as my spiritual home, and when I started to get involved in the scene, Harky, who is about four years older than me, took me under his wing. I was, if you like, his protégé, not just in a football-violence sense but also on a personal level. He was an older brother and he was always there for me during my teenage years, even when I was inside thanks to a conviction for drug dealing.
    Harky was totally fearless and I can still picture him steaming in, regardless of the numbers he was up against or the reputation of the opposing mob. He was the gamest boy I have ever seen.
    He’ll kill me for mentioning it but he was also, like me, a childhood Celtic fan, which is ironic because two more rabid Celtic haters you will not find this side of London Road. Harky wasn’t at the Swallow that afternoon. He got out of the scene fairly early on. But I wished he could have been there to savour the great days we shared.
Walesy
    Walesy, who was from Garthamlock, enjoyed cult status in the ICF, especially in the early years. He caused havoc everywhere he went. Walesy was a game wee cunt, so game that his small stature and wiry frame never put him at a disadvantage in a ruck. He was also known for his amazing abilityto rob and steal when we were on our travels. But those weren’t the main reasons for him becoming a cult figure.
    That was down to the number of people he slashed. In fact he was probably the main reason our boys became known – wrongly in my view – as blade merchants. He was a fucking fiend with a Stanley knife and in a tight spot would cut anyone who got in his way.
    Walesy moved down south where he died, tragically young, more than a decade ago.
    RIP wee man.
Davie Carrick
    Like the boys I have mentioned above Davie was as game as fuck, a real front-liner. Always first into a fight, and the last to run, he would be a stick-on to be inducted into any hooligan hall of fame. Like me he wasn’t the tallest and like me he worked his way through the ranks to become one of the main faces.
    It was thanks to Davie’s drive and enthusiasm that we kept the mob going through the dark days of the early Nineties when FV became very unfashionable, with people preferring