I was a football hooligan and had 400 fights - this fanbase was the toughest

A veteran West Ham United fan, Bill Gardner, has opened up about his past as a notorious football hooligan, claiming involvement in over 400 altercations with rival factions.

Now aged 70, Bill was a key figure in the infamous Inter City Firm associated with West Ham during the 1970s and 80s—a period marked by rampant violence in the football world.

During an interview with Tony Bellew for the BBC's Gangster Presents series Hooligans, Bellew characterised him as "huge" and likened him to a "man mountain".

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Bill provided a stark recollection of those tumultuous football years: "Away supporters used to be attacked nearly everywhere in this country. Some places worse than others."

Reflecting on his group's confrontations, he declared: "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."

Confidently recounting his scuffles, he stated: "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."

He continued to stress the loyalty within the firm, saying: "They all knew they could rely on me, and I would never leave them alone. If one of them went down, I would pick him up, and I would still do it today. They became my family and it was a family I never had."

This sense of allegiance, Bill conveyed, rooted in his rough childhood. In the interview, he shared with Tony how the loss of his sister to leukaemia at four deeply affected his parents and how his early life was marred by bullying and abuse.

He recounted how his mother would resort to using "whatever she could get her hands on" to hit him, including pieces of wood, rubber, and plastic.

The most terrifying incident he remembered was when his mother lost control: "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. My dad was crying, he said, 'You've got to go now Bill, she's going to kill you.'".

Feeling unwanted for much of his youth, everything changed when he discovered Upton Park's terraces, where he would soon become celebrated as a "legend" amongst the home crowd.

He confessed that being in the stadium felt like finding a home, becoming part of a family at last, and he quickly rose to be heralded as the "top boy" or "Mr West Ham".

However, he rejects the label of a hooligan and clarifies his stance: "I saw myself as a person that loved football, loved West Ham, wanted to go with my friends, and I would go and if they was attacked, or if we was attacked, I would do my best to help.

"Never a hooligan, a hooligan is someone who smashes things up and breaks things, I never done that. If someone wanted to fight me – I would fight them."

Despite his reputation for never losing a fight, there was one opposition fan base that he held in high regard, an unexpected revelation.

It was during his appearance on the in 2021 that he expressed his respect for the supporters of West Ham's biggest rivals, Millwall.

He recounted his involvement in a massive 600-man brawl, remarking: "I think Millwall [were the toughest] when I think of some of those games we played.

"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."

When discussing his approach to the chaos, he added: "It's just a free for all really, like they say in the film Zulu 'mark your target' when they come, you know what I mean. You know the one you are going to have.

"I used to always go for the one at the front who was the mouthy one. I used to go for that one because I believed that you cut the tree at the bottom, the tree will fall."

After a significant police crackdown on hooliganism, Bill decided it was time to hang up his fighting boots following an arrest in 1987. He quipped that the alternative to stopping was either death or madness – so he opted for the latter.