Synopsis
It is the Swinging Sixties, a time of Flower Power, student protest and free love. Unless, that is, you live in a two-up, two-down terraced house in England's forgotten city: Hull. There, among the docks and factories, is an eerie Clockwork Orange world of warring street gangs with names like the Monte Carlo Mob, the Gypsyville Skins, the Woodcock Martyrs and the Kempton Fusiliers. Shaun Tordoff grew up amid the skinhead crews of the tough east coast city and joined legions of like-minded youths on the football terraces every Saturday, in their Sta-press jeans, Doc Martens and sheepskin coats. With personal recollections and interviews with former gangs members, he recounts the infamous Battle of Dock Street, the Rugby Wars that split the city between violent supporters of its two rugby league teams, the era of the notorious Hull City Psychos, the trips on Mad Eddie's Battle Wagon, and the resurgence of soccer violence at the football club in the 1990s. More than simply a hooligan memoir, City Psychos evokes a forgotten world of music, clothes and youth culture in one of Britain's biggest urban areas. From the publishers of Guvnors (over 47,000 copies sold), Blades Business Crew and Soul Crew, the number one small publishers' bestseller (Booktrack, April 2002)