IN the run up to the 1990 World Cup all eyes were on the England team - not because of the players, but the thugs that followed them.
The Italia ‘90 tournament ended a decade that saw football violence in the UK reach epic heights with warring fan groups - known as firms - leaving English supporters with a tarnished reputation that was feared around the world.
As an undercover cop who infiltrated the London firm the Millwall Bushwackers in a doomed reconnaissance mission ahead of the tournament, James Bannon was in the thick of the action.
Now the former Met officer - who appears in the Channel 4 documentary Italia ‘90: Saving English Football - tells The Sun how he gained the trust of Millwall hooligans and found himself in the midst of terrifying violence.
“There were clubs that had reputations and you knew you were going to go there and meet opposing supporters that would want to have a fight,” he says.
“But if I was going to be any good at what I did, I wasn't going to be in the family enclosure. So yes, I got involved in the violence.
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“I never incited or started a fight, but I was there to gather evidence against nasty, horrible people who brought violence to football, to take them off the streets and make stadiums safer places for people to go and watch.
“It's a fine line and undercover policing is not an exact science.
“You are thinking on your feet every second because you have to try and stay within the law, while being convincing at what you are.
“I would never run at somebody and hit them. But if somebody was coming at me who wanted to hit me then, trust me, I'm going to hit them first.”
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James was just 21 when he was asked to blag his way onto the terraces in 1987.
Presenting himself as Wandsworth painter and decorator Jim Ford, he started his mission by becoming a regular at a pub in the Old Kent Road, South London, which was favoured by Millwall fans.
“We went there for lunchtimes all summer, when there was no football on,” he says.
“We got to know the bar staff and the locals so when the football season started in late August, nobody gave us a second look and that gave us credibility.
“The landlord of the pub was one of Millwall’s top boys so we also got to know him, and it moved on from there.”
Genned up on his Millwall history, so he could pass as a fan, James says he was helped by the fact that the club was doing well and many new faces were turning up at the games.
“We had to gain people's trust and I was fortunate because I was only 21,” he says.
“I played that to my advantage, telling them I hadn't been when I was younger, and I was now going with my ‘brother in law’, who was actually the officer I was working with. No one suspected someone so young and fresh-faced of being a copper.”
Highbury brawl
James faced violent mobs on many occasions - and also came close to arrest himself during a legendary clash between Millwall and Arsenal fans after an FA cup match, in January 1988.
He was among Millwall fans in the North Bank stand at Highbury - traditionally reserved for Arsenal - who started a mass brawl which ended in 41 supporters being arrested,
“That was the most memorable,” he says. “We met up with the landlord of the pub and ended up in the middle of the Arsenal crowd with 15 of Millwall's top hooligans, me and my sergeant.
“I went from the middle of North Bank, being punched and kicked en route, and punching and kicking back, on to the sanctuary of the pitch, where I was then arrested.
“But the copper was what we used to call a ‘Cake-eater’ - an officer that drove a desk in the week and did football on Saturdays for overtime - who was probably more nervous and scared than I was.
“Instead of taking me down the tunnel, which is where you usually go if you get nicked, he led me the wrong way, towards 10,000 Millwall.
“As we walked I got buoyed by 10,000 Millwall fans singing, screaming and pointing at me and he got more nervous, and weakened his grip.
“I managed to break free and dive in the crowd - so that upped my credibility with the firm.”
Ambush
On another occasion, James travelled to an away game in Leeds on the train - and was ambushed by rival fans on the return journey.
He says: “There was a massive fight. I was scared for my life. It was my first away match and it was a baptism of fire.
“I got hit, punched and kicked a few times but luckily, never sustained any serious injuries.
“We learned two things from that day - Leeds are pretty tasty and never travel on the football special.
“After that we drove to away matches.”
The Channel 4 documentary looks at the run up to Italia ‘90, and how Italian and UK authorities attempted to control the threat posed by English hooligans by managing ticket sales, moving the opening match to Sardinia, drafting in armed police and even banning alcohol sales on match days.
Through interviews with police, footballers and former firm members, it examines the “subculture” of hooliganism, with disenfranchised young men finding a place to belong.
Riaz Khan, from the Leicester Baby Squad, says he was involved in fights before and after matches and adds: “You were buzzing for the rest of the week, until the following Saturday. It was great.
“I’d never had this sense of belonging to anything cos I was an Asian kid in a white school. I saw the football hooligans had their own sense of identity, it wasn’t about colour.”
Gary ‘Boatsy’ Clarke, who belonged to Notts Forest Executive Crew, says the hooligans were proud of their international reputation.
“England was the number one firm,” he says.
“I was down as one of England’s main hooligans. We were looked upon as the devil - especially the firm that went to Italia ‘90.”
Operation aborted
Sadly for James, the Met Police pulled the plug on his undercover operation in 1989, a year before the tournament, after trials against West Ham and Chelsea fans collapsed when scientists cast doubt on evidence gathered by undercover officers.
“They employed people to do some of this work who weren't very good and some of the evidence had been made up,” he claims.
“A decision was taken by senior politicians that they couldn't stomach another trial and lose face so all of the operations were disbanded overnight.
“It meant that two and a half years of my life were a complete and utter waste of f***ing time.
“We went from being doing a pretty elite job, which required huge sacrifices, both emotionally and personally, to ‘Thanks very much. Now go back to Orpington and drive a panda car.’”
Disillusioned, James left the force and ended up writing a book, Running With The Firm, and the 1995 film I.D. about his experiences.
He has since been an actor, run a successful property company and a short-lived commercial airline, as well as starring in a one man stand up show.
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Although he is frustrated his undercover operation resulted in no arrests, he says he’s not sure his team would have much impact on Italia ‘90, where British fans were involved in running battles in the street and riots after England's three matches in Cagliari.
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“I don't think we'd have made a huge difference,” says James. “All we'd have been able to do was give them a heads up a little bit quicker and let the authorities know who was there and likely to cause trouble, but we were never given the opportunity to justify what we were doing.”
Italia ‘90: Saving English Football continues tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.
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