John Durnin: Ex-Celtic striker Gerry Creaney thought he was invincible, but upset some naughty Portsmouth boys and was hospitalised

Scottish striker Creaney arrived from Celtic in March 1994 and would establish himself as a prolific goalscorer for the Blues.

However, he wouldn’t be popular with everyone.

While on a night out in the city to celebrate his 25th birthday, Creaney suffered a fractured cheekbone after being set upon in a taxi queue.

According to Durnin in Played Up Pompey Three, his former team-mate had already been warned that his off-field behaviour could land him in serious trouble.

And Creaney paid serious consequences.

‘Making his debut in that March 1994 Coca-Cola Cup replay against Manchester United was Gerry Creaney, a club-record £500,000 capture from Celtic that very day,’ Durnin told Played Up Pompey Three.

‘As we would find out, Gerry liked a drink – and if he had calmed that down he probably could have done better than just a single season in the Premier League with Manchester City.

‘He was a good player, but not as fit as he could have been. I sat next to him in the dressing room and would often say “If you were fitter, imagine how much better you’d be?”. He wouldn't listen, he had come down from Celtic and thought he’d made it. People like that can’t be told.

‘Sometimes I would go out with Gerry – and he was a nightmare when he’d had a drink.

‘I always knew where the line was, as a footballer you got attention off women, while lads were jealous. There are people made up to see you and will shake your hand, but there’s always that jealousy element.

‘I had a knack of knowing when things weren’t right, it took a lot for me to get properly wasted and my faculties remained. I could smell danger and knew when something was wrong – and, once you sense it, it’s a case of “Come on, let’s get out of here, quick”. It didn’t always go to plan, I must add, sometimes it does boil over and kick off.

‘Now Gerry, once he’d had a drink, thought he was invincible and upset a lot of people through the way he acted. Here was a single lad who went around with women, which single lads are going to do. However, he started stepping on people’s toes, a few naughty boys. He paid the price.

‘I was once with him in a Southsea pub on a night out and, when I went to the toilet, was approached by a bloke. “Tell your mate to pack in what he is doing,” he said, referring to Gerry.

‘He added: “This is a warning, he’s walking on thin ice, he’s upset a few people”.

‘My response was “What has he done now?”, to which this guy said: “He hasn’t done anything tonight, it’s what he has done before. He’s got one chance, but you had better warn him”.

‘Then he followed that up with: “Anyway, how are you doing? I was at the last Pompey game!”.

‘It turned out Gerry had been carrying on with somebody’s girlfriend. I pulled him aside and explained, but his response was “Ah, he won’t find out”. Again I tried: “They know. These guys will be following this up and before you know it will break your legs. I’m just warning you”. A few weeks later retribution was indeed carried out.

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‘It was April 1995 and we were supposed to be going out on the Wednesday night, but Gerry had to shoot up back to Scotland on his day off. Sure enough, he was 10 minutes late for training on Thursday morning, using the excuse that his flight was delayed.

‘Still, it was his 25th birthday and he wanted us to instead go out that night to celebrate. I wouldn’t drink on a Thursday before a game, so declined, yet Mark Chamberlain, who was by then at Brighton & Hove Albion but still living at Port Solent, did accompany him.

‘We had Barnsley away on the Saturday – and when the team coach collected me from the usual rendezvous point at Oxford services, I was unaware what had gone on. The bus turned up, we were waiting for a club director who normally also got on there and then I noticed: “Where’s Gerry?”.

‘In Queen Alexandra Hospital, I was told, with a fractured cheekbone which required an operation! I was pushed up into attack to replace him at Oakwell – and the Scot missed the remaining five games of the season.

‘It turned out Gerry and Chambo had been at a taxi queue outside The Pyramids Centre at 2.30am after going to a nightclub and were set upon, although Chambo took a beating trying to protect him.

‘Apparently, the message was “Just leave him, it’s nothing to do with you”, but it’s your mate isn’t it, you’d probably do the same thing. They told Chambo to walk away, yet he jumped in, sustaining minor facial injuries.

‘Gerry had been putting himself out there and there are things you don’t do, whether you're single or not.

‘Knowing Gerry the way he was, he would rub people’s noses up, he upset a lot of people. I come from Liverpool and it worked the same there, there are certain things you don’t do.

‘Football now is obviously a bit different to back then, players these days can’t do anything, but they still think they’re untouchable, no matter what. They’re not, though.’

John Durnin made 211 appearances and scored 34 goals from Pompey from July 1993 until February 2000.

Played Up Pompey Three is priced £18.99 and available from Amazon, Waterstones, the Pompey Store and The Petersfield Bookshop.

For player-autographed copies, with the signatures of Richard Hughes, Sammy Igoe, Martin Kuhl, Lee Bradbury or Dave Munks, email [email protected]

Meanwhile, Played Up Pompey Too remains on sale from Amazon.

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