I just watched the scene that you recommended. It's kind of funny that his buddy jumps in to throw in a punch or two. He's almost acting like a mafia boss here, extorting money from the guy: "If you're going to sell drugs in my gym, I want a cut, or I'll beat the crap out of you by the end of the day". He's not upset that the guy is selling the drugs, he's mad because he's not getting a cut. And he rationalizes it by saying he has bills to pay.
I don't know, I'm sure you can learn something from almost anyone, but I'm not so sure I see this guy as a role model.
I bought his autobiography cheap last night, read it this morning and I must say, he's still in a very legally/ethically grey area with his operations.
A lot of his business is basically rescuing people from loan sharks and the like - this would seem noble enough, but often his success is because he usually knows the criminals involved and his name strikes fear into them. He then acts as a middleman for a client trading off his past notoriety.
Most of the debts he collects are from people who are scum, which is admirable. But on the less positive side, he also resolves them with what is basically outright theft or intimidation. In one case he resolved a debt by stealing construction equipment worth £150,000...because he knew that it was already stolen from another site and so the debtor would not go to the police.
In another case he collects a debt off a drug dealer by stealing his keys, taking the car and also casually
stealing his drugs to sell them to a fence. Sketchy as f**k!
So yeah, I must admit he's a complicated man...but he does have a respectable frame and some fair core ideals. In one case, he saved an innocent man from threatening harassment from the IRA...which took serious balls.
I'd say the clip is one of his less shady displays of force. He takes a cut from the drug sales in the clip - however, he also tells them to never do it again in his gym or be prepared for serious consequences. So it's more of a principled punishment than a "Give me £1k a month". The money is a token of their respect - and he's extorting that on a one time basis as a "stop doing this now" instead of f*cking their lives up with a criminal conviction I guess.
The guy who throws the punch is scum though - 10 mins later at the end of the documentary, Shaun says he was caught selling roids shortly after that clip and had been doing so far longer than the other 2 men. He flees as a result and disappears, despite being a long term "friend".
I dunno...impressive masculinity, complicated morality, I think it's fair to say
