Download Naughty: The Story of a Football Hooligan Gang AudioBook Free
In 1985, 40 hooligan enthusiasts of Stoke City FC experienced a riotous visit to Portsmouth - and the Naughty 40 was created. It became one of the very most notorious soccer gangs in Britain. Tag Chester was a founder member of the N40. Already a hardened fighter, he previously been expelled from college after an unsettled childhood and joined up with the Staffordshire Regiment, only to be discharged for misconduct. Stoke City's emerging "casual" mob became his family. "Right or wrong, I was ready to be a devoted sports hooligan," he says. He recounts tales of raucous instructor outings from the Glebe pub and the pivotal clashes with the likes of Everton, Manchester United, and Western Ham that defined the new company. Formidable characters came up to the forefront, men like the large Tag Bentley, Philler the Beast, and the renowned Miffer, while hair-raising clashes with the likes of Millwall, Spurs, Aston Villa , and Manchester City noticed the gang's reputation get spread around. The N40 code was simple: Whatever the odds, they would always make a stand. Often, they fought when seriously outnumbered yet often came out at the top. They developed a closeness and cohesion uncommon among the sports gangs. Loyalty was their watchword. Soon, they were joined up with by the Under-Fives, a young element motivated to win acceptance from the terrace legends they respected and who carved out their own area of interest as well as fighting side by side with the old-school mind. Police operations, bans from the bottom and the launch of ID strategies have averted many from participating games, but the author, long "retired" from the landscape, argues that in the new millennium the gangs are back again - so when ferocious as ever before. Naughty is needed for anyone desperate to understand the illicit but seductive lure of terrace battle, the psychological ties of a gang, and the addictive hype of Sunday afternoons.
