Ex-West Ham hooligan says one firm terrified him in '15 vs 100' fight – it wasn't Millwall

A West Ham United academy coach and one-time Arsenal youth coach who once made ends meet as a London cabbie has spoken on his past life as an Inter City Firm (ICF) hooligan.

Back in the rough-and-tumble days of the 1970s and 1980s, when was rife, Mark Phillips roamed with the ICF, earning a street-hardened rep. He decided to open up about these brawling days during a chat on the .

Dispelling myths about being part of a football firm, he explained that had several gangs, with Mile End being the big name back in his younger years.

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However, it was his tale of an unexpected confrontation that caught attention on the show. Asked about hair-raising scrapes in his past life, Mark, pointing out that Millwall and West Ham was England's fiercest feud, shared a particularly perilous encounter.

"Well I can remember one distinctly," said Mark. "Although we were called the ICF, sometimes we would go to games on coaches, sometimes we would go on cars.

"But we went to a game at Preston on a coach. We were arrogant and lairy, oh we will go and have a drink anywhere, we will do this, we will do what we like."

He detailed how about 15 lads "broke away" because it was "only Preston" and they believed no trouble would come of it. Mark pointed out that among the crowd was the infamous West Ham hooligan Carlton Leach.

Still, he said: "They are all older than me but we all think we are the charvas and think we can look after ourselves.

"We come round this corner, away from the ground there's this boozer. And all ex-football (hooligans)... whatever you want to call us, we exaggerate. We are like football agents, I have never had a football agent ring me up and go 'oh I've got this player, he ain't that good really, but have a look at him.' He is always the best player in Europe.

"And football hooligans will go, yeah there were 50 of us, 300 of them, it is always that story. But there is a grain of truth in there somewhere but the numbers are just crackers."

Mark continued his tale about the trip to Preston, recalling: "Anyway, I would say there is 15 of us, something like that, and just the arrogance and ridiculousness of it all, and we ain't looking for it. We are just looking for a beer.

"Then we come round this corner and I don't know, there was at least around 100 Preston, you know what I mean?

"And then they are still coming towards us, not bouncing, but coming, and we ain't bouncing, and anyway they come across the road and we are just standing there - and then more (Preston Fans) come round the corner. We got run (attacked), run terrible, when you are getting run it is everywhere, every man for himself."

He chuckled as he went on: "I'm in the back streets of Preston. Properly like, we are meant to be the top firm in the country! It happens though and you can't say you won everywhere. It is ridiculous and people say 'oh we never lost' but people lose battles all over the place, of course you do."

He also mentioned that the short trek from Upton Park to the Boleyn Ground could be "horrendous" for visiting supporters, depending on which team they were backing.

When quizzed about matches notorious for hooligan clashes, Mark was quick to downplay Chelsea's group.

He expressed that the Headhunter thugs felt "inferior" to West Ham in their minds and would often opt out of making the journey to East London.

However, he did acknowledge the bravery of some adversaries, noting: "To be fair, the only teams who have come to Upton Park... I mean came one League Cup game, night game, and Dave Cross beat them one nil. Tottenham came out at Upton Park, bouncing, a little bit late, but they did.

" come once in 86. [But] no one used to come to West Ham, whatever they say, in those days, no one came. I mean Chelsea are taking six, seven, eight thousand all round the country, going to Norwich, Ipswich, everywhere, massive firms. They brought 30 to West Ham.

"And people can throw things at the screen, say what they like, but that's what happened. That was the truth of it."