Suicide Squad

“Burnley FC have the dubious and unfortunate honour of being the unwilling host to a group of hooligans that are larger in number and more vociferous in their behaviour than clubs of a similar position in the league. The hooligan element … proudly refer to themselves as the Burnley Suicide Squad. The self-imposed title is derived from previous behaviour at away games where the single-minded involvement in violence against overwhelming odds could be described as suicidal.” – Lancashire Police report, Operation Fixture.

Out of the terrace wars of the 1970s came a gang known as the Suicide Squad, and Andrew `Pot' Porter was one of its leaders. Raised in the shadow of Turf Moor in a northern community of back-to-back terraces, he started watching matches as a cider-swigging ten-year-old and was soon a regular on the famous Long Side, where he saw the exploits of fearless terrace legends like Norman Jones and the crazy Bungalow Bill.

Burnley's rollercoaster history, from the old Division One to Division Four and the threat of non-league football, meant the Suicide Squad clashed with just about every rival mob in the country, from minnows like Bury and Wimbledon to giants like Spurs, Celtic, Birmingham and Manchester City, with Pot always in the thick of it. A successful amateur boxer, he was also a regular follower of the England national team, where he witnessed some of the most notorious incidents of modern times.

From raucous trips in Transit vans with carrier bags full of beer cans, to sleeping off hangovers in foreign train stations, to fighting with mad German skinheads, Suicide Squad is a gritty, realistic and vivid portrayal of the wild side of British football.