# Cardiff City Soul Crew... new book launch



## Clint Iguana (Sep 10, 2008)

Book Launch Details

Book launch will be held on Saturday 13th September 2008 at Bar Crunch, Westgate Street,

Cardiff from 11am - 2pm... just in time for the bristol city game .

All are welcome 

Lads from all over the country will be present, including Wolves, QPR, Boro and Chelsea 

Book can be purchased on the day, and author will be happy to sign copies

http://www.freewebs.com/diaryofthesoulcrew/

Product Description

This is the story of Cardiff City's notorious Soul Crew and their invasion into England and Scotland from 1970 to 2008

20 top lads from clubs ranging from Boro, to Wolves, QPR, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Birmingham and some of Cardiff's main faces who were all there, all involved and tell it how it was.

No bullshit and they tell it exactly as it happened, with no punches pulled and their stories have never been told before.

The above is from the website.... not my words. Book's author is annis abraham...... but i suspect it is more like his previous book 'shattered dreams to wembley way', which makes him the editor rather than the author


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## Hi-ASL (Sep 10, 2008)

*April 21 - Millwall.* On train down to Millwall, mobbed up. Pulling into the station it looks deserted and a few of the lads start laughing and cheering thinking the cockney cunts have bottled it. It's only when we start to get off that I realise that things are just _too_ quiet and, sure enough, as we're passing the vending machine that spits out those lovely Dairy Milk minis whenever you insert one of those magic silver rings, they all come out of nowhere, mobbed up and giving it large, carrying bricks, bats, kittens, fence posts, the distributor cap off a 1973 Ford Capri, the lot. I'm toe-to-toe with this big cunt with hair like Noddy Holder and he's swinging at me with the biggest bunch of daffs I've ever fucking seen, trying to cut my head clean off, and I'm scared and I want my mummy, etc., etc.

*April 28 - Wolves. *On train down to Millw.. sorry, Wolves, mobbed up. Pulling into the station it looks deserted and, etc., etc.

And so on.


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## Clint Iguana (Sep 10, 2008)

Hi-ASL said:


> *April 21 - Millwall.* On train down to Millwall, mobbed up. Pulling into the station it looks deserted and a few of the lads start laughing and cheering thinking the cockney cunts have bottled it. It's only when we start to get off that I realise that things are just _too_ quiet and, sure enough, as we're passing the vending machine that spits out those lovely Dairy Milk minis whenever you insert one of those magic silver rings, they all come out of nowhere, mobbed up and giving it large, carrying bricks, bats, kittens, fence posts, the distributor cap off a 1973 Ford Capri, the lot. I'm toe-to-toe with this big cunt with hair like Noddy Holder and he's swinging at me with the biggest bunch of daffs I've ever fucking seen, trying to cut my head clean off, and I'm scared and I want my mummy, etc., etc.
> 
> *April 28 - Wolves. *On train down to Millw.. sorry, Wolves, mobbed up. Pulling into the station it looks deserted and, etc., etc.
> 
> And so on.



Don't spoil it, i have not read it yet


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## bendeus (Sep 10, 2008)

Clint Iguana said:


> Book Launch Details
> 
> Book launch will be held on Saturday 13th September 2008 at Bar Crunch, Westgate Street,
> 
> ...



New poster.

17 posts.

Shitty book written by semi-literate, knuckle dragging, disgrace-on-the-club-he- purports-to-support, neanderthal twunt boasting of his sub-gangster antics in brawls with other bottom dwellers?

Not content with pimping it out on just one thread, but two, in two separate forums?


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## Clint Iguana (Sep 11, 2008)

bendeus said:


> New poster.
> 
> 17 posts.
> 
> ...



yep, new poster.... sorry, did not realise i had to be a fully fledged cyber warrior to post. its not the friendliest message board i have come accross, so i doubt if i will get to post 2,948 messages

I see you have read the book... odd becasue it is not being launched till saturday, you must be in the know. i dont know annis as well as you obviously do, personally i only comment on things i know about, so will bow to your better judgement.

yes, i posted this on two different forums, football (cos it is football related) and wales (cos it is wales related)... is that not allowed? being a new boy i am not up to speed with your cyber etiqute.

for the record, i am not condoning or condemning this book (i will wait till i have read it). I just thought some people might be interested to know it exists...... and foolishly thought that people who were not interested would have better things to do than comment.


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## llantwit (Sep 11, 2008)

bendeus said:


> New poster.
> 17 posts.


And your point is?
Have a go at the book if you don't like the sound ofit, fine. But why the personal jibe?
Croeso i fforum Cymru, ffs.


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## PAD1OH (Sep 11, 2008)

hooligan porn is useless and boring.


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## bendeus (Sep 11, 2008)

llantwit said:


> And your point is?
> Have a go at the book if you don't like the sound ofit, fine. But why the personal jibe?
> Croeso i fforum Cymru, ffs.



My point was merely that the poster appeared to be spamming a book.

That's all.


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## bendeus (Sep 11, 2008)

Clint Iguana said:


> yep, new poster.... sorry, did not realise i had to be a fully fledged cyber warrior to post. its not the friendliest message board i have come accross, so i doubt if i will get to post 2,948 messages



Posting about a soon-to-be-launched product twice on two separate forums, particularly if you're new to a board, may make people think that you have an agenda, i.e. selling the book, which is something frowned upon in the FAQ of these boards. Genuine apologies if I got it wrong, and welcome to the boards 



> I see you have read the book... odd becasue it is not being launched till saturday, you must be in the know. i dont know annis as well as you obviously do, personally i only comment on things i know about, so will bow to your better judgement.



I know enough about Annis from reading the Cardiff City messageboard. I'd imagine my description of the book would be fairly accurate from what I know about him.



> for the record, i am not condoning or condemning this book (i will wait till i have read it). I just thought some people might be interested to know it exists...... and foolishly thought that people who were not interested would have better things to do than comment.



Oh but I *am* interested. I think Annis is a cock, and that people like him are in the main responsible for the bad reputation that City continue to enjoy, and further are an inspiration to the upcoming generation of burberry clad, wannabe Soul Crew scrotes, who think it's ok to beat up 'scarfers' when outnumbering them 10 to 1, to intimidate and threaten families in the away end, and generally behave like nobs. No time for Annis or his book, sorry.

Enjoy Urban. You've already made a friend in Llantwit


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## Udo Erasmus (Sep 11, 2008)

A friend of mine jumped on the bonnett of a white strech limo that was being hired by the Cardiff City Soul Crew shouting slogans about Chairman Mao, but that's another story.


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## bendeus (Sep 11, 2008)

One that I'd love to hear. Did he live?


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## osterberg (Sep 11, 2008)

If Clint Iguana is who I think he is , he's a nice guy and totally genuine.


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## bendeus (Sep 11, 2008)

Cool. Apologies again. It just looked a bit suss that he'd posted the same, book-promoting C&P at pretty much the same time on two separate sub-forums. 

Accusation withdrawn. Apology re-extended. Harmony descends


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## el_starkos (Sep 11, 2008)

bendeus said:


> New poster.
> 
> 17 posts.



Board Nazi. 


If you wanna hop over the fence for some toe-to-toe Wolves action, me and the boy will be mobbed up and ready to unleash hell.


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## bendeus (Sep 11, 2008)

*Lobs sharpened coin over back wall*


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## Clint Iguana (Sep 11, 2008)

OK, to clarify…. I was posting details of an event and a forthcoming book that I thought some might find interesting. I have no connection with Annis or his book. I do not condone football hooliganism; I have been following Cardiff City since the late 70’s, been caught up in some pretty hairy situations and not once in all that time have I ever resorted to joining in.

The thought of reading any books about hooligans would not normally enter my head, partly because I am not really interested and partly because I would not want to line the pockets of any criminal thugs. I am mad about Cardiff City though and sit up and pay attention when my own club is involved…. It is partly curiosity and wanting to know what has gone on, partly to relive games that I have been to and partly to laugh at things that I know are simply not true cos I was there. In other words, I have no good reason other than morbid curiosity.

I am no fan of Annis but have come across him several times on my travels and some of the descriptions I have read of him here do not fit with the bloke I know. I have no intention of defending him but I am not in the business of judging people based on what someone else has said about them on a message board. On the other forum on which I posted this he is accused of having “VERY dubious, far right connections”. I think this is a bit naughty, I have never heard any whispers of him being a right-winger and given his Egyptian background, I doubt any far right types would want to know him. Not only does this give him a tag he does not deserve (although there are plenty of tags he may well deserve) it also undermines the term far right when used in its correct context. Dave Tooze, author of the recent Swansea hooligan book is head honcho in the Swansea BNP, he deserves to be vilified, but if we are going to bandy about accusations that all sorts of people we do not like are nazis, the term becomes meaningless. I prefer to stick to facts.

As I said in my original post, I find it odd that Annis has recently published a book in which he claims he was stitched up by panorama, then a few months later he is publishing a hoolibook. I look forward to reading how he balances that.

There is a very real possibility that this may inspire a new generation of hooligans and that is to be condemned, cant argue with that, but I am weak, I still want to read it.

Cardiff City has seen the biggest drop in hooliganism of any club in the country in recent years. Ironically a major factor in that has been older ‘lads’ keeping a lid on things themselves …. Most notably through the Valley RAMs. I don’t think Annis fits into that scenario, but I mention it merely to highlight that not all long time hooligans are wrong ‘uns that encourage the next generation and it is dangerous to generalise without facts available.

Oh.. and thanks to those that have stuck up for me.

Bristol city here we come!


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## Clint Iguana (Sep 11, 2008)

bendeus said:


> Cool. Apologies again. It just looked a bit suss that he'd posted the same, book-promoting C&P at pretty much the same time on two separate sub-forums.
> 
> Accusation withdrawn. Apology re-extended. Harmony descends



Thanks, harmonious vibes accepted... peace on you my friend


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## bendeus (Sep 11, 2008)

Clint Iguana said:


> Thanks, harmonious vibes accepted... peace on you my friend







> As I said in my original post, I find it odd that Annis has recently published a book in which *he claims he was stitched up by panorama*, then a few months later he is publishing a hoolibook. I look forward to reading how he balances that.



I'm pretty sure it was on that Panorama programme that he was accused of far right connections. It's a hazy, single source that I drew that from, and I'm happy to accept that I'm misinformed.

I am, however, going to stick to the bottom dwelling, knuckle-dragging neanderthal bit, though.


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## Clint Iguana (Sep 11, 2008)

bendeus said:


> I'm pretty sure it was on that Panorama programme that he was accused of far right connections. It's a hazy, single source that I drew that from, and I'm happy to accept that I'm misinformed.



you might be getting Annis mixed up with this guy .... same programme

then again, there could be lots of others you could be getting mixed up with


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## Clint Iguana (Sep 15, 2008)

Well, it is now official; the book is, on the whole, crap.

The launch was not so much a launch but Annis sat in the corner of a pub signing books and raking in the money. If you did not know it was a launch you would not have realised what was going on. We did not even get to have a decent pint as the bar was drunk dry of cider before we got there, so after a swift one we got back to normal pre match routine and watering holes in canton.

I cant quite get my head around the book, Annis does not actually write anything, merely collects stories from ‘lads’ he knows, so it is a bit of a cheek to just have his name as ‘author’. Sometimes it sounds like the Annis fan club, lots of people just saying how much they ‘respect’ Annis and the Cardiff ‘firm’.

With so many contributors the book varies in quality but on the whole is pretty poor. There are two or three chapters which are interesting, ironically they come from people who probably do not really consider themselves hooligans; their take on things is far more believable than the ‘game lads’ who seem to think they have found a more honourable way of life than us ‘normals’. 

Some of the contributions are so brief and so pointless it is hard to see why they were included, other than as an opportunity to name drop …. And yes, there are incidents in there that I witnessed and the accounts here bare little resemblance to how I remember things.

I was not expecting to be bowled over by the writing, I was expecting voices from the terraces, but this was just a disappointment. Because the contributions are so short, there is no time for any scene setting, it was all straight to the ‘off’ and after a few chapters became quite tedious. If people are not used to writing that is fine, but if the written word is not your forte, dont go writing a book. Fortunately it was only 140 pages long (not what I expect from a ten quid book) so it was put to bed quickly so I can get on with reading a proper book now.

I suspect that it will be enjoyed by people that don’t normally sit down to read books. That sounds dreadfully patronising and I do not say that lightly, but if you are used to reading good writing you will be disappointed. If books about fighting at football are hooligan porn, this is the letters section of a particularly cheap mag.

I still cannot get my head around how he went to great lengths to distance himself from hooliganism in his first book and now seems to be going out of the way to prove he is a ‘face’. The really strange thing is that in terms of hooliganism, he has never struck me as being ‘tasty’. Cass Pennant, or even Macca, he is not.

At the end we find out that Annis is working on a third book. Personally will wait for Big Gwyn (one of the better contributors) to write his story of the Valley RAMS (No, not another firm, a travel club that managed to keep a lid on rampant violence). I am sure it will be a more interesting story and given Gwyn’s natural wit, less painful to read.


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