Ryan Ferguson had an unsavoury history of football banning orders and prison terms. But his recent online activity suggests he has become more extreme in his views
04:00, 15 Feb 2026
Ryan Ferguson(Image: HOPE not hate / Liverpool ECHO / Marianna Longo)
In the days before an anti-migrant march in Blackpool, a video circulated on social media showing a man telling the camera: “Remember at this demo, whites only. No blacks.” The man in the video wasn’t the organiser of the march, but on January 24, when the crowds walked through the streets of the Lancashire seaside town carrying a banner branded with the message “deport all illegals”, all eyes were on him.
In recent years Ryan Ferguson has evolved from a hooligan with an unsavoury history of banning orders and a prison sentence for racially abusing a footballer to one of the most recognisable figures in the North West’s far-right movement. 2026 has seen a darker evolution in Ferguson, with the 26-year-old immersing himself deeper into extremist politics and neo-Nazism.
Analysis of his social media accounts, which fluctuate between amassing a troubling litany of followers to being taken down because of breaches of the tech companies’ policies, makes for concerning reading. Although previously photographed at a Britain First march wearing a t-shirt with widely recognised neo-Nazi connotations, Ferguson appears to have become more extreme in his views.
Reposting an Express news article with the headline “Two babies killed as 53 migrants dead or missing after boat capsizes at sea”, Ferguson’s X account said: “Lovely news on this fine Monday evening. Can this happen a lot more often, maybe the number will drop that are entering our white land.”
And quoting a video of German dictator and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, whose racist policies led to millions of deaths in the Second World War and The Holocaust, addressing crowds at Nazi rallies on X, his account added: “Greatest man to grace planet Earth. He warned the world way back then, now [we] are paying the price.”
The ECHO approached Counter Terrorism Policing about Ferguson’s social media output but was told the specialist force did not have any ongoing investigation in relation to it. The spokesperson advised people to report “concerning online activity” via the anti-terrorism hotline.
But a former Counter Terrorism Policing head of intelligence analysis told the ECHO: “Online activity of this kind is very much of interest. Officers will constantly be reviewing this kind of content to build a picture of these individuals and groups to understand the specific threat.”
Ryan Ferguson outside the Kings Gap Hotel in Hoylake, Wirral(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
The ECHO made repeated efforts to contact Ferguson, who lives on a newbuild estate in Netherton, this week to ask him about his social media activity. On Friday afternoon Ferguson responded that he did not have a comment in response to the ECHO’s questions, but said he was “increasingly concerned” by how much the mainstream media was watching his movements. He added he was paid a lot of money to do his ‘activism’.
Tranmere Rovers fan Ferguson’s first brushes with the law came in his late teens. In April 2023 he travelled to Gloucestershire and racially abused Forest Green Rovers player Jordan Garrick. Sentencing Ferguson to nine months in prison, a judge told him: “You should be ashamed and you represent the ongoing racial problem.”
Ferguson’s own solicitor told the court that his client held “quite immature” and “outdated” views. “People don’t just become racist – and it seems he has learnt over time while growing up,” the lawyer said. “For some reason he thinks this is normal and acceptable behaviour.”
Ferguson’s own social media presents an insight to when he began to align with more controversial views. Around the time of his racial conviction Ferguson’s X account, then known as Twitter, largely focused on reports of Tranmere Rovers content from fan groups and the club’s official page, as well as tattoo content.
Ryan Ferguson pictured after he was jailed for racially abusing a footballer. Release date February 9, 2024(Image: Gloucestershire Police / SWNS)
The second half of 2024 saw the fallout following the far-right, anti-immigration protests and riots which followed the Southport stabbings. What started in Southport and days later in Liverpool city centre and Walton, spiralled into unrest in London, Manchester and the north east.
The unrest was marked by arson, looting and attacks on religious buildings. Far-right groups including Patriotic Alternative used social media to stir up anger which led to street protests, while traditional old-style movements like the English Defence League (EDL) and Britain First also mobilised.
Towards the end of 2024, following his release from prison, Ferguson’s social media activity changed. He began reposting and responding to the likes of Stephen Yaxley Lennon, also known as far-right activist Tommy Robinson, ex-footballer turned recently-sued podcaster Joey Barton, and Reform politician Lee Anderson.
Ferguson reposted a video by Britain First and a picture in support of Wayne O’Rourke, who was sentenced to three years in prison for stirring up racial hatred in the form of misinformation following the Southport attacks.
Riot police hold back protesters after disorder broke out in Southport in 2024(Image: Getty Images)
In 2025 Ferguson aligned himself with the anti-migrant protest movement, reposting content in support of British flags, calling for “Islam out of Europe” and for “no more grooming gang coverups”.
He also began to become a more recognisable face at protests around the country, documenting his presences at marches to a growing number of supporters on TikTok and Instagram. In one video on TikTok filmed in Liverpool in May, Ferguson took hold of a megaphone and began leading several people around him in chants in support of Tommy Robinson.
At a Britain First rally in Birmingham Ferguson was pictured at the head of the march in the company of co-leaders, Paul Golding and Ashlea Simon, wearing a t-shirt with a Polish slogan and the numbers “88”.
The numbers 88 are traditionally seen as an abbreviation for the Nazi salute “Heil Hitler”. When the ECHO contacted Ferguson for a response at the time he said the political party he worked for prevented him from giving statements.
Ryan Ferguson, who has been previously jailed for racially aggravated harassment, pictured wearing a t-shirt with neo-Nazi connotations at a Britain First march (Image: HOPE not hate)
A researcher at HOPE not hate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of her proximity to the groups she investigates, told the ECHO: “The thing with Ferguson is he is unique. He is an ethno-nationalist, he is very extreme. He is very overt but he will also turn up at local protests.
“He is willing to hang around these local people who are civic nationalists. They are not neo-Nazis but they have far-right views. This is a quite unusual experience and that makes him dangerous.”
Throughout the summer of 2025 Ferguson’s social media showed him at demonstrations in Cumbria, Leeds, Altrincham and Hoylake. He even recorded footage of himself forcing entry into asylum hotels and confronting people in their rooms.
He was filmed in Greater Manchester outside a hotel housing asylum seekers appearing to call for the return of National Action – a proscribed terrorist organisation. He confirmed to his social media followers that he was later arrested in connection with the alleged offence in Wirral and the case was handed over to Counter Terrorism Policing North West.
A spokesperson for the police confirmed this week that following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service no further action had been taken.
Ferguson was returned to prison that August regarding offences from the previous year, where he made false 999 calls, claiming he needed the police for “his own protection”. Ferguson, who told officers he was a “far-right journalist”, was sentenced to an immediate 17 weeks’ imprisonment. His lawyer claimed to the court Ferguson’s “views were moderating”.
But this couldn’t have been further from the truth, and at the turn of the year Ferguson’s social media output shifted from anti-immigration to quite open support for fascism. Widely circulated footage showed Ferguson clutching a banner for “Aryan Front”, who according to their own X account believe in “racial socialism”. Ferguson was also captured appearing to confront and push police officers.
“He is anti-migrant and that rhetoric has become more mainstream, so he is looking to be more controversial with his views,” said the HOPE not hate researcher. “He is young, he is quite aggressive. His videos are seen by a lot of people because he’s confronting and fighting people and that does well online.
Ryan Ferguson (right)(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“He has always been quite out and out with his racism…part of his growth is that he is very controversial. He will turn up and fight people and doesn’t mind if they are one of his own. Ferguson was very overt at the march. This is not something we have seen across the country. It is unique.”
This month Ferguson’s X account reposted a video of Hitler acknowledging crowds with a Roman salute. Responding to an Aryan Front post which said: “Fighting the Germans for the Jews was the biggest act of treason we have seen in the past 2,000 years,” Ferguson said: “Correct.”
Other posts from the same account include: “White power. We will not become a minority in our home land. Remember people our race was never slaves,” and “Their (sic) is no place for filthy Islamist invaders in Britain, they all must go. Deport, deport, deport.”
Ferguson’s shift to the right has also brought him into conflict with those he once supported. Responding to a post about the Warwick protest, Britain First’s Paul Golding said: “The man in the video, Ryan Ferguson, is an agent provocateur. He’s definitely a police asset. Avoid at all costs.”
The HOPE not hate researcher told the ECHO: “He splits opinion on the far-right. Some support him and are happy to appear next to him but we also see him causing trouble for himself and others around him…Paul Golding has come out against him quite aggressively.”
She added: “We have people in the far-right thinking he is a police plant. The thinking is when someone in the far-right acts up then they have to be a police plant or a leftist agitator…March organisers are concerned he is stealing the spotlight. That is something the people in these groups get frustrated over.
“The march in Warwick was organised by Patriotic Alternative. Ferguson is not part of Patriotic Alternative but is involved in that sort of movement. They might agree with Ferguson’s views but they will disagree with the optics. They think he makes them look bad.”
Ryan Ferguson posted in a now deleted video that he had visited National Action terrorist Jack Renshaw in HMP Wakefield
Ferguson also attracted attention in January after confirming to his followers that he was visiting convicted terrorist and child sex offender Jack Renshaw in prison. Renshaw was the former poster boy for the banned terrorist organisation National Action, who is serving a life sentence for plotting to kill Labour MP Rosie Cooper.
In a now deleted TikTok video Ferguson said: “People can say what they want about me going to see Jack today…I will not shy away that I’m going to see [him].” The ECHO understands Ferguson’s decision to visit a child sex offender would have been viewed as highly controversial within the far-right.
Naomi Davis-Crane, a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University and former senior Counter Terrorism Policing officer, told the ECHO that Ferguson’s rise has come off the back of a “gradual expansion [of far-right politics] in the UK in the past 10 to 15 years because of its visibility in the public consciousness”.
She told the ECHO that politics has moved towards the right in terms of the rise of parties such as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, but “Ferguson has taken it one step further” in his quest to seek out “contrast politics”.
She added: “Ferguson has moved quite rapidly to radicalism, but what we are seeing more generally on the extreme right is a real spectrum of views…When we see people like Ferguson they are charismatic, they have the ability to talk to people.”
In terms of online activity like Ferguson’s, Ms Davis-Crane said it will be monitored by police forces “to understand the risk to the public these people pose”. She added there was a “clear line” where Ferguson’s social media posts would be classed as “extreme”.
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