Fighting Talk: Lead titles in the football thug's library

Guvnors, by Mickey Francis, (Milo, pounds 6.99)

Francis, 37, born and raised in Moss Side, Manchester, says he was "a football hooligan since his youth". Numerous convictions for violence- related offences, has served two prison terms and is banned from every football ground in Britain. He tells of his 15-year "trial of terror on the streets and football terraces of Britain".

"I have had hundreds of fights ... I have been stabbed, hit with iron bars and beer glasses, kicked unconscious, punched and butted. I have been threatened with death by people who meant it ... And I have dished it out. In spades."

Bloody Casuals - Diary of a Football Hooligan, by Jay Allan (Northern Books, pounds 4.95)

Allan, 34, tell of his fours years as a member of the notoriously violent Aberdeen Casuals football gang during the early 1980s and his three months in jail for attacking fellow hooligans.

"2.30pm, London Road [in Glasgow] is a riot ... me and 20 others are chasing 30 mods and skinheads up some side road - might as well waste them too. The bastards are too fast, though, and we just manage a punch off one face and a boot in the hip. Two lads kicked some scooters over."

Everywhere We Go - Behind the Matchday Madness, by Dougie and Eddy Brimson (Headline, pounds 6.99)

Both from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, Dougie, 39, has 11 O-levels, is married with three children, and was a sergeant in the RAF. Eddy, 34, is married and trained as a graphic designer. The brothers gave up hooliganism after Dougie suffered two broken ribs and Eddy's skull was fractured during a weekend of fighting.

"One of our lads soon had him on the deck. After we dealt out a couple of slaps most of them did a runner. No bottle you see. So we totalled the bus."

Steaming In - Journal of a Football Fan, by Colin Ward (Pocket books, pounds 5.99).

An account of Ward's life on the terraces in the 1970s and 1980s at Arsenal, Chelsea and England matches. The book, which has sold about 120,000 copies, claims he does not seek to glorify violence, but capture the "spirit of the times".

"Woody got within range of the three Millwall fans. One punch, and Woody hit the concrete with a thud. The three of them set about him with their boots... they gave Woody another kicking. This was a 'friendly' kicking, just to let him know he had met Millwall."