On the one hand, we all love football hooligans. There's nothing better than sharing a train with a bunch of largered up Chelsea fans, apart from walking into the wrong pub in the wrong colours on the day of an old firm match.
On the other, it's a tough job sorting out the ringleaders. So James Bannon's life as a covert police officer took a turn for the exciting when he went undercover in the football factory. He eventually got out without taking a serious kicking - and managed to write a book about it.
The book is Running With the Firm and this is the true story told by the man himself. In 1995 Gary Oldman said to James Bannon: ‘We play at this, you did it for real, no second takes, you fuck it up and you’re dead.’ In a unique theatrical event of authentic sheer bloody madness, you will experience what it was like to live your life undercover.
Following a celebrated 4 week run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, a sold out show at The Soho Theatre in November 2013 and the recent sell out 3 night run at the Soho Theatre in February 2014, James Bannon (in association with Off The Kerb Productions) has confirmed 5 more dates at The Soho Theatre in London on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th June 2014, which will coincide with the much awaited release of the Running With The Firm paperback on June 6th.
The show, based on the book is the true, no holds barred account of his time as a Covert Police Officer, and he tells first hand of an intense and dangerous journey into the heart of the world of hooliganism. Bannon introduces us to the hardest thugs from football's most notorious gangs, tells all about the secret and almost comical police operations that were meant to bring them down, and, how once you're on the inside, getting out proves to be the biggest mission of all and in more ways than one.
Since its publication in August 2013, Running With The Firm has gone on to become the best-selling true crime book of 2013, became a Sunday Times bestseller in its first week of release, has been the No.1 best-selling book in WH Smith for 13 weeks, and it has recently been announced that it is soon to become a major motion picture currently in pre-production with principal photography starting in late summer 2014.
In addition to the dates in Soho, Bannon will also be recanting his acclaimed tale at the Latitude Festival on the 19th July at 7.30 in the literary arena as well as returning to the Edinburgh Fringe for 7 days between 18th- 24th August.
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