football and gangsters

[frank the tank]

I am currently reading a book by graham johnson, an ex-sunday mirror reporter on "how organised crime controls the beautiful game"....

graham johnson was born in liverpool so a lot of it is based about events on merseyside. Topics covered include stories about stevie G including how his move to chelsea was stopped by death threats to him and hs family. Another gerrard story is based from a few years earlier and how he was having an ongoing feud with a local merseyside gangster called george bromley junior about some bit of skirt......johnson suggests that this is the real reason that gerrard had his famous dip in form (around the time when he was hauled off by ged against basle) and not his parents break up as stated by stevie in his autobiography....

also mentioned are a kidnap attempt on michael owen's sister....

there are also stories about various wayne rooney stories including the time he went to the knocking shop in liverpool. Johnson describes how he had a big drama getting the tapes of shrek going in and out of the whorehouse but he also states that a liverpool player that he used to knock about with was in there with him. Anyone know who this was???

I will tell you one thing, after reading this book, i feel that we should be signing cleaner than clean characters in general as a club policy from now onwards. Put it this way, a lot of these stories, you could see somebody like pennent or riise being in place of the name rooney or ferdinand.....

[wavydavy]

Any chance of a ****in' hit on the two yank ****s then?

[Ataturk]

ask dunc, he knows a few hitters

[Jayesh87]

Marcus is gangster

[Matt]

Get ClintDogg on the case

[jonesie]

I am currently reading a book by graham johnson, an ex-sunday mirror reporter on "how organised crime controls the beautiful game"....

graham johnson was born in liverpool so a lot of it is based about events on merseyside. Topics covered include stories about stevie G including how his move to chelsea was stopped by death threats to him and hs family. Another gerrard story is based from a few years earlier and how he was having an ongoing feud with a local merseyside gangster called george bromley junior about some bit of skirt......johnson suggests that this is the real reason that gerrard had his famous dip in form (around the time when he was hauled off by ged against basle) and not his parents break up as stated by stevie in his autobiography....

I will tell you one thing, after reading this book, i feel that we should be signing cleaner than clean characters in general as a club policy from now onwards. Put it this way, a lot of these stories, you could see somebody like pennent or riise being in place of the name rooney or ferdinand.....

A bit harsh on Pennant and Riise there mate, they haven't done anything remotely bad (off the pitch!) since they've been here, apart from in Riise's case, get hit by a golf club and give my mate Andy a far too manly bear hug when he was pissed one night.

As for the 'bit of skirt', that was Lauren somethingorother, and I've heard that Stevie moved in with Houllier for a few weeks around this time, hence the whole situation about him being gutted when GH left, and why he nearly followed him.

Haven't read the book, but I know people who have a very er, shall we say 'interesting' view on Johnson.

[PTP]

I am currently reading a book by graham johnson, an ex-sunday mirror reporter on "how organised crime controls the beautiful game"....

graham johnson was born in liverpool so a lot of it is based about events on merseyside. Topics covered include stories about stevie G including how his move to chelsea was stopped by death threats to him and hs family. Another gerrard story is based from a few years earlier and how he was having an ongoing feud with a local merseyside gangster called george bromley junior about some bit of skirt......johnson suggests that this is the real reason that gerrard had his famous dip in form (around the time when he was hauled off by ged against basle) and not his parents break up as stated by stevie in his autobiography....

also mentioned are a kidnap attempt on michael owen's sister....

there are also stories about various wayne rooney stories including the time he went to the knocking shop in liverpool. Johnson describes how he had a big drama getting the tapes of shrek going in and out of the whorehouse but he also states that a liverpool player that he used to knock about with was in there with him. Anyone know who this was???

I will tell you one thing, after reading this book, i feel that we should be signing cleaner than clean characters in general as a club policy from now onwards. Put it this way, a lot of these stories, you could see somebody like pennent or riise being in place of the name rooney or ferdinand.....

mmm.... i'm sure it would be an interesting read but i reckon he has taken a few rumours, backed with some knowledge of the liverpool gangsta scene and run a bit with it.

From memory, i may be wrong - i'm sure the Michael Owen's sister was more of a random attack/car jacking as opposed to being a targeted "get owen's sister" kidnap attempt - think she had a big 4x4 that owen had bought her and they were more after the car than her

Rooney is from quite a tough family so there will probably be a few stories were someone he knows has been involved in a few scraps - nothing out of the ordinary for most council estates except for the fact there is a link to a millionaire footballer.

I seem to remember the rumour being the Liverpool with rooney when he went to auld slapper was Neil Mellor? apparently he was heard as bragging he was the top scorer for liverpool ressies or something

[frank the tank]

A bit harsh on Pennant and Riise there mate, they haven't done anything remotely bad (off the pitch!) since they've been here, apart from in Riise's case, get hit by a golf club and give my mate Andy a far too manly bear hug when he was pissed one night.

As for the 'bit of skirt', that was Lauren somethingorother, and I've heard that Stevie moved in with Houllier for a few weeks around this time, hence the whole situation about him being gutted when GH left, and why he nearly followed him.

Haven't read the book, but I know people who have a very er, shall we say 'interesting' view on Johnson.

i have nothing against riise or pennent as people but lets be honest here. Riise seems to be a naive character - he leaves his payslip get shown all over the net, there are rumours that he was bankrupt etc

as for pennent, he has been in prison. I am all for the idea that people can change but at the same time, he seems to find himself in bother every now and again - maybe he is simply unlucky or naive but i dont know if he has proved that he can handle the fame of being a footballer.

[PTP]

i have nothing against riise or pennent as people but lets be honest here. Riise seems to be a naive character - he leaves his payslip get shown all over the net, there are rumours that he was bankrupt etc

as for pennent, he has been in prison. I am all for the idea that people can change but at the same time, he seems to find himself in bother every now and again - maybe he is simply unlucky or naive but i dont know if he has proved that he can handle the fame of being a footballer.

with regards riise - i think you are jumping the gun a wee bit - he didn't leave his payslip just lying around to be posted on the internet - someone went through his rubbish to find it, granted it was a mistake that he didn't either file it or shred it etc but he just through it away without noticing probably in error.

The rumours that he was/is bankrupt were blown out of proportion and taken in by most in the wrong context - Most people heard he was bankrupt and assumed he had gone out and blown millions. In fact he hadn't, his agent done some dodgy business dealings using riise's name and money which riise claimed he didn't know about and the agent did one leaving riise in the **** with something like a £50'000 debt - riise refused to pay and was declared bankrupt until the debt is paid - riise was/is apaprently suing his former agent over it. He isn't the sharpest tool in the box, but not many footballers are.

[shanks69]

another story that is doing the rounds.there's a £35000 contract on bromley because of his threats to gerrard.there are some real heavy duty gangsters that follow liverpool and if on a euro away game and you go to the top hotel in that city you will hear a few scouse voices.without getting in touch with each other by phone they just know were to meet for the game.and these gangsters are real heavy duty with direct links to the likes of the columbians and turkish drug firms.

[Steve101]

A lot, if not all of the stuff mentioned above was fairly common knowledge. It wasallin the papers and the net. This sounds like a simple rehash with bits 'added'. It's fairlyvobvious that the circles these players move in will contain some unsavoury characters. Nothing is new of course, does it mention Tommy Smith and pals threatening people they didnt like with lump hammers? some things never change!!