There you go, pick the bones out of this:-
Daily Star
West Ham hooligans made 'Britain's hardest man' and Mickey Rourke run for their lives
East End gangster Danny Woollard made an extraordinary claim that West Ham United's Inter City Firm (ICF) made 'Britain's hardest man' Lenny McLean and the likes of Mickey Rourke 'run like scared rabbits'
By Liam McInerney
Bareknuckle puncher Lenny McLean was once regarded as 'Britain's hardest man' (Image: PETER BROOKER/REX/Shutterstock)
One of the most feared men in the country was sent running by West Ham's notorious football hooligan firm during a boxing fight, a former gangster has claimed.
Towering bareknuckle boxer Lenny McLean gained his reputation as the "hardest man in Britain" from having thousands of underground fights, as well as rubbing shoulders with the criminal underworld.
But, according to ex-East End mobster Danny Woollard, he met his match when West Ham's infamous Inter City Firm (ICF) stormed a fight night he was headlining.
In his book Wild Cats, he claimed the hooligans rocked up at Woodford Football Club after an ICF member was supposedly battered unconscious in the audience. The likes of Gene Hackman, Mickey Rourke and Jaws actor Richard Kiel were all said to be in attendance.
Things turned nasty when a drunk reveller from the crowd grabbed the shorts of a fallen fighter in the ring to prevent him getting back up.
And according to Danny's book: “Lenny McLean and a few very large black men started to give this drunken youth a good kicking.
“Barry Dalton and Billy Williams stopped it.
“Bill dragged this young man out, but unbeknown to anyone, ‘The Bomb’ set about this chap and gave him a proper hiding.”
Billy ‘The Bomb’ Williams was a notorious heavyweight brawler, who was once trained by Muhammad Ali’s mentor Angelo Dundee.
However, Danny added: “Once the boy had regained consciousness, he started ringing his mates up. He was a member of West Ham’s notorious Inter City Firm.”
Explaining the carnage that unfolded, he wrote: “They all came, motor-loads of them, tooled up and looking for revenge.
“Roy Shaw, McLean, Williams, Carrington, Mickey Rourke and all the actors ran like scared rabbits to the club house, Woody’s, and locked themselves safely away.
“The Inter City Firm smashed the place to pieces.
“If they could have got hold of Billy Williams they would have killed him – quite deservedly, I thought, as he had taken a terrible liberty.
“Anyhow, after that, I gave up boxing promoting for a while and concentrated on my scrap business, just to let things quieten down for a while.”
According to Danny, legendary McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1998, faced more drama earlier in the night when his rival Barry Dalton supposedly pulled a gun on him.
He wrote: “Barry was shadow boxing and warming up with Bill ‘The Bomb’ Williams.
“When McLean walked into the dressing room, Barry went straight to his kit bag and pulled out a ‘38’ revolver.
“He said to Lenny, ‘Any saucy from you today and I’ll shoot you in the f***ing head.’
“Lenny had Britain’s strongest man with him but the two of them just melted. Lenny said, ‘Barry, we don’t want any trouble’ and shook Barry’s hand.”
McLean, who had ties to the criminal underworld, participated in more than 3,000 fights during his life.
But if Woollard is to be believed, he felt fear when the ICF came to town at the boxing.
The West Ham firm was co-founded by Cass Pennant in the 1970s and garnered a sinister reputation for leaving a business card on the fans they attacked that read: “Congratulations, you’ve just met the ICF.”
Spurs and West Ham fans going at it in 1983 (Image: Daily Mirror)
They then hit worldwide fame with the release of hooligan film Green Street, starring Elijah Wood.
And the story about McLean and the famous actors apparently running for their lives was recently speculated about on Youtube channel The Enquirer 1.0.
One viewer replied: “They were the good old days, it's a different world now.”
Another added:” I think you can safely remove Mickey Rourke from any band of hard men, he’s all Hollywood.”
And one sceptic wrote: “Can't see that lot running from the ICF.
“In fact I'm pretty sure they would have welcomed a set too with any firm and no doubt would have given them a hiding to boot.”
