Former Manchester United hooligan Tony O’Neill, who was once known as ‘the general’ in the Red Army firm, has revealed his favourite away day in London
A notorious ex-Manchester United hooligan has revealed his favourite London away day. Tony O’Neill was once dubbed Britain’s toughest hooligan and ‘the general’ of the Red Army firm.
Delving into his experiences on the Webby and O’Neill YouTube channel, part of his ‘Fan Culture’ series, he explained: “We had tricky situations but London was always the main focus for United. Every time United were playing there, I would always get there, it would be very rare that I would miss London games because anything could happen.
“Euston (Station) was always the main focal point and that is why the Red Army in London was hated because when the Red Army travelled you could not control them.
“We could trust each other and there were some dangerous places to go, and I always say the night games are dangerous to go – and I had some dangerous night games.”
Once considered a public menace at football grounds, Tony found himself behind bars three times over football-related brawls, with police branding him ‘Target Kilo’. His penchant for violence started in the 1970s and his last offence came in 2001.
Since hanging up his hooligan boots, he has penned the titles Red Army General and The Men in Black and taken to lecturing students about choosing a better path in life.
Tony spent his youth embroiled in skirmishes with rival supporters across London, clashing with fans from clubs like West Ham, Millwall, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Yet, out of all the confrontations, one particular group remained firmly etched in his mind.
Despite fierce rivalries with Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and Chelsea under Roman Abramovich’s it was another away day that stood out for him.
He explained: “Tottenham was my favourite ground. Going there in 72… unbelievable! It is the best ground for a young lad. But going forward throughout my life, Tottenham was always my favourite ground, anything could happen there, it was just great.”
Tony later found himself on the payroll providing security at Gary Neville’s Hotel Football and has even chatted with the ex-United skipper on his channel numerous times.
In reminiscing over earlier times, he also named the notorious Chelsea Headhunters, labelling them a “violent mob”.
Despite this, to truly illustrate the sheer scale of football hooliganism in the ’70s, he pointed out: “They (Chelsea) weren’t the only violent mob, virtually every big club in the first division had violent mobs up and down the country – and it was uncontrollable.
“And I can’t really put into words how uncontrollable it was, every weekend it was happening up and down the country.”
In 1977, the British government and the Football Association took drastic action to try and stem football violence by making all away matches ticket-only and barring match day ticket sales.
However, Tony was skeptical about the effectiveness of these measures, saying: “It has never worked. They haven’t got a clue. It is a disease. It is there. It gets passed down generation to generation. Liverpool Man United. It is a disease. The hatred gets passed down. Leeds Man United, gets passed down. That’s the way it is. Millwall West Ham, gets passed down. You can’t avoid it. It will always be there.”
Despite admitting that things have evolved over the last couple of decades, he reminisced about his earlier days as a fierce young man, claiming: “That was the society we lived in, the 70s was wild, absolutely wild, there was so much freedom.
“People got everywhere and the police and government just could not handle it.”
After sharing the footage, one Tottenham supporter recalled: “Spurs v United at WHL was always something to look forward to back in the day, United always brought a big and good firm.”
Another stated nostalgically: “Spurs was always the big London games for United. Spurs v United used to attract bigger crowds than when we played Arsenal.”