It was 1976. Change was in the air. Disco was invading the dance floors. Punk rock was kicking off. Chicken-in-the-basket cabaret was fighting to hold its own. In Liverpool, a new and exciting youth trend was taking root. Fuelled by Liverpool Football Club’s success in Europe, fans had taken to wearing expensive training shoes ‘zapped’ from exotic sports shops in Italy, Switzerland and Germany. The scally or football casual was born, the bane of door teams across the land. That year there was also a heatwave. Society was restless. Like a fresh wound, an unnerving undercurrent of panic meandered through the nation’s collective psyche. Old institutions were being affronted, insulted and torn down. The underworld was not insulated from this cultural upheaval. New gangs were growing stronger, tearing up the rule book and challenging the old order. As Paul gently expanded his own influence on the nightclub scene he was locked into a war of attrition, fighting on two fronts with old enemies and the young bucks alike.
