After 18 years service with the Royal Air Force, including both the Falklands War and the first Gulf War, the ex-Sergeant engineer’s literary career began in 1996 when he wrote a book based on his own experiences as a football casual entitled, Everywhere We Go: Behind the Matchday Madness. The book examined the culture of football and football hooliganism from the inside. A further ten books have followed and their success has established him as a leading authority on the issues of football and lad culture.

Brimson is a supporter of Watford F.C. He was never arrested for hooliganism, and states that he stopped getting involved in match day violence when hooligans started using knives and clubs, adding "When they started filling squeezable Vicks bottles with ammonia, I just thought, that's enough, I'm out of this."

Widely acknowledged as one of the most vocal anti-violence and anti-racism campaigners, Brimson has acted as an advisor to both the British government's working group into football disorder and the European Commission's football group. He has also written extensively for various magazines, newspapers and websites including The Sun, The Times, The New York Times, The Guardian, Loaded magazine, FourFourTwo magazine and Football 365.

In 2003 Brimson made the move into screenwriting with the short film "It's a Casual Life" which was a fifteen minute film looking at the world of football violence from a Casuals perspective. His first full length feature, the Hollywood funded Green Street starring Elijah Wood, was released in September 2005 and has won numerous awards including:

• Narrative Jury Prize-SXSW Film Festival
• Narrative Feature Audience-SXSW Film Festival
• Best of Festival—Malibu Film Festival
• Jury Award (feature)—Malibu Film Festival
• Official Selection—Tribeca Film Festival

He is currently working on a number of screenplays including a biography of darts legend Leighton Reece and a zombie based comedy entitled KillerWeed.

Brimson has co-hosted a late night comedy show on Liberty Radio, presented The Stock Car Show on Granada Men & Motors and presented the Madder Max show, also on Granada Men & Motors, which examined the diverse world of British motor sport. It began transmission on 24 July 2000 and ran for thirteen consecutive weeks. He also co-produced and presented the BriSCA Formula One Stock Car Show for Channel Five. He has also written and presented sports films for Bravo including The Basement.

Brimson, who has three children, is an active member of the British Legion and The Falklands War Veterans Association.

Non-fiction

• Everywhere We Go: Behind the Matchday Madness (1996)

• England, My England: The Trouble with the National Football Team (1996)
• Capital Punishment: London's Violent Football Following (1997)
• Derby Days: Local Football Rivalries and Feuds (1998)
• The Geezers' Guide to Football: A Lifetime of Lads and Lager (1998)
• Barmy Army: The Changing Face of Football Violence (2000)
• Eurotrashed: The Rise and Rise of Europe's Football Hooligans (2003)
• Kicking Off: Why Hooliganism and Racism Are Killing Football (2006)
• Rebellion: The Growth of Football's Protest Movement (2006)
• March of the Hooligans: Soccer's Bloody Fraternity (2007)

Novels

• The Crew (1999)
• Billy's Log (2000)
• Top Dog (2001)