Bill Gardner was described as a “top boy” at West Ham (Image: undefined)

Bill Gardner, a notorious former football hooligan, has opened up about his violent past, boasting of engaging in over 400 brawls during the heyday of football violence.

Now aged 70, Bill was a key figure in West Ham’s infamous Inter City Firm throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

In and interview with Tony Bellew for the BBC‘s Gangster Presents series Hooligans, he was described as “huge” and a “man mountain” by the former boxer.

Reflecting on the brutal clashes, Bill said: “Away supporters used to be attacked nearly everywhere in this country. Some places worse than others.

“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.

West Ham fans celebrating after the club won the 1980 FA Cup (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)

“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.

“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.”

The roots of his aggressive behaviour trace back to a troubled childhood marked by family tragedy and personal struggles. Bill shared with Tony the heartache of losing his sister, four, an event that deeply affected his parents.

He recalled abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother, who would strike him with “whatever she could get her hands on” including lumps of wood, rubber and plastic.

He stopped fighting after being arrested in 1987 (Image: INSTAGRAM)

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The most terrifying incident he remembered: “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 throughout his youth, it wasn’t until he found solace in the stands at Upton Park that he felt a sense of belonging, eventually becoming a revered figure among fans, known as the “top boy” or “Mr West Ham”.

He expressed that the football ground was his sanctuary, where he finally felt part of a family. Despite his reputation, he rejected the label of a hooligan, clarifying 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.

“I never considered myself 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.”

Although he claimed to have always held his own in confrontations, there was one group of rival supporters he respected, which might come as a surprise to many.

In a candid 2021 interview on the Anything Goes podcast, he disclosed his unexpected respect for the supporters of West Ham’s fierce rivals, Millwall.

He remembered 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.”

On his strategy during such chaotic fights, he elaborated: “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 crackdown on hooliganism by the police, Bill decided it was time to stop fighting following an arrest in 1987. He quipped that he had a choice between ending up dead or mad – opting for the latter.