I was one of the UK’s most feared football hooligans… but now I’m a movie producer and worked with an Oscar winner
A FORMER football hooligan has revealed his radical life change from prison time to movie production and working with an Oscar winner.
Cass Pennant, 65, ran one of the most feared firms in the country before a spell in prison prompted him to turn his life around.
Cass, born Carol Pennant in Doncaster, Yorkshire, endured a tough childhood after being abandoned by his parents and fostered by a couple in London.
He has said that he was “bullied from day one” as he was the only black kid in his area, forcing him to grow up tough.
The 6ft 4in man mountain, whose nickname was inspired by Muhammad Ali’s real name Cassius Clay, co-founded the Inter City Firm (ICF), the hooligan group associated with West Ham United throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
His love for the club was sparked as a youngster when a neighbour with a season ticket invited him to a game.
The gang terrorised Upton Park across two decades, being involved in countless battles with other major firms.
As dramatised in the 2007 film Rise of the Footsoldier, the ICF were known to leave calling cards on their victims’ battered bodies reading: “Congratulations, you have just met the ICF”.
Cass went through two stints in jail, both for hooliganism-related offences, and was even shot three times amid a feud with a rival gang.
It was during his time inside that he decided to get his life back on the rails, and he retired from terrace violence in 2002 and penned an autobiography.
At the very start of the book he wrote: “I’ve been involved in more violence than most people will experience in a hundred lifetimes.
“My favourite weapons were my fists, the axe and Uncle Stan – my trusty Stanley knife.”
This prompted a series of books documenting life as a hardcore hooligan, as well as an appearance on Danny Dyer’s Bravo doc Real Football Factories.
The 2008 film ‘Cass’ told the story of his life, and even saw future Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya play a teenage Cass, while the man himself made a cameo as a bouncer.
Cass has since gone on to work in the film industry as a producer and actor, as well as visiting schools and prisons to help prevent young people getting involved in violent crime.
In 2015, he told The Evening Standard: “Everyone has more than one path in their life.
“I am proof that you can turn your life around.
“I never preach or tell people not to do certain things – it doesn’t work. I just tell them my story and how I tried to make sense of my life through writing books in prison and how that then led to where I am now. I want to open doors for them and open their eyes.”
Cass has previously cited lifelong Hammers fan and British film star Ray Winstone as a major influence on him.
He told Hammers News: “One of the most famous actors I can think of that’s a true Hammer is Ray Winstone. Like most of us, I’m a big fan of all his work and always thought he would have been a great fit for the Cass film.”
The pair even met several times to discuss a role for Winstone, but his other acting commitments meant he wasn’t able to join the cast.
Cass added: “He was only interested in helping a fellow Hammer who was now making headlines for all the right reasons.
“His advice was extremely helpful as I made the transition from the book to the film industry – thanks Raymondo!”
The former hooligan is also longtime friends with boxer Frank Bruno after both being involved in a brawl against a pair of skinheads by chance.