Gerry Creaney - your memories

[glossop is blue]

Wank!!!!

 

[lyonfish]

At the time I thought he was not only the worst City player I'd ever seen, but the worst ever player for anyone, then we signed Neal Heaney!
With hindsight Creaney was the first of a new breed of player for City that included the likes of Darren Wassal, Tony Scully and Paul Beesley, it says something about how bad things were that our team was filled with players like these, there wasn't a team in the land they weren't capable of loosing to. I've overheard many times fans proclaiming our latest humiliation at hands of some second rate side we really should beat to be "the worst performance ever", but as a scarred veteran of those dark days all I can ever do is shake my head and mutter "you really haven't seen anything mate".

It is thanks to Creaney and his peers that for me Mancini and his team of brilliant players can do absolutely no wrong!

 

[Anonymous]

At the time I thought he was not only the worst City player I'd ever seen, but the worst ever player for anyone, then we signed Neal Heaney!
With hindsight Creaney was the first of a new breed of player for City that included the likes of Darren Wassal, Tony Scully and Paul Beesley, it says something about how bad things were that our team was filled with players like these, there wasn't a team in the land they weren't capable of loosing to. I've overheard many times fans proclaiming our latest humiliation at hands of some second rate side we really should beat to be "the worst performance ever", but as a scarred veteran of those dark days all I can ever do is shake my head and mutter "you really haven't seen anything mate".

It is thanks to Creaney and his peers that for me Mancini and his team of brilliant players can do absolutely no wrong!

Disagree about Heaney being worsen than Creany, but agree and echo everything else.

 

[The Deckchair Kit]

Pre-season friendly vs Scarborough at the Mccain stadium.

Pre match warm up with the legend himself in fine shooting fettle........needles to say IIRC every single shot (loosely speaking) he attempted ended up nestling in the back of the stands with the fans.


Never has a man who shot so much produced so little.

i went to that and the goat scored.im sure creaney had long gone by then.i might be wrong

AUG 3 SCARBOROUGH - MANCHESTER CITY 2-2 (0-0)
Attendance:
Goals: MC: Kinkladze (72 pen), Quinn (80). S: Ritchie (50), Thompstone (84 pen)
Line up: Immel, Frontzeck, Symons, Brightwell, Phillips, Clough (Brown), Lomas, Kinkladze, Summerbee (Creaney), Rösler (Greenacre), Kavelashvili (Quinn)
Report by: Paul Howarth

This was the only pre-season game I expect to be able to get to this season, so the numerous hold-ups due to traffic congestion that were experienced en route through the Yorkshire countryside were particularly unwelcome. Thankfully we arrived at the McCain Stadium with half an hour to spare and were able to experience the public address announcer's rather comical attempts at pronouncing the names of some of our players. I'm sure he'll not be the only one to struggle this coming season though. Since my last visit to the ground about three years ago the away end (which used to be an open terrace with only one toilet to serve the needs of everybody on it) has been completely replaced with a comfortable, tidy stand featuring a cantilever roof, good views and decent refreshment and toilet facilities. It was clear that most of the seats in this stand hadn't been used for some time judging by the dust and cobwebs on them.

Many of the City fans present (there were several hundred there, but less than a thousand) were wearing the new away shirt, so it looks like it's going to be popular despite the criticism aimed at the design by many of us. Before the game many of the City players had a spot of finishing practice, trying to score from crosses floated in by Tony Book, with Martyn Margetson in goal. As was the case last season, some very poor finishing was evident and this was to continue into the game itself. The pick of the bunch in this warm-up session were Chris Greenacre and Alan Kernaghan!

Eventually the teams came out and the game started. City lined up with Immel in goal, three at the back (Brightwell on the right, Frontzeck on the left and Symons in the middle), Clough just in front of the back three, Phillips wide on the left, Summerbee wide on the right, Lomas and Kinkladze in the middle and Rösler and Kavelashvili up front. The opening 15 minutes were quiet, as were the City fans who clearly couldn't be bothered to rouse themselves for this pre- season friendly. The most impressive player during this period was Martin Phillips, who has now "filled out" a little. He was beating players and getting crosses in, usually to the far post where Niall Quinn would have gobbled them up if he'd been in the starting line up. Gio has lost a bit of weight since the Irish games but still couldn't be bothered to get involved in the game, invariably preferring to pass the ball, short or long, instead of going on one of trademark runs. Indeed, many of his passes were wayward and I was worried that this would continue into the season proper.

The first real chance of the game came Scarborough's way, former Blue Ian Thompstone beating Brightwell at the far corner of the goal area and crashing a powerful header against the underside of the bar. This roused City out of their slumbers for a while and Uwe hit the foot of the post a couple of minutes later. City were now playing pretty well and had a couple of efforts cleared off the line during a long spell of pressure on the Scarborough goal. After about half an hour the home side got back into the game and nearly took the lead when another former Blue Gary Bennett had a free header from a corner but sent it just over the bar. I felt that City's defence looked shaky but it will take time for the other players to get used to playing without Curle at the back I think.

There were further chances for both sides before half time but City had the best two. First of all an all-too-rare run by Gio set Uwe up with plenty of time and only the goalkeeper to beat but he hit his first-time shot over the bar. Then, on the stroke of half time, Phillips hit a powerful shot from the edge of the area which was brilliantly tipped over the bar by the Scarborough `keeper. And so the half-time score was 0-0.

City replaced Mikhail Kavelashvili (who had been one of our better players, looking sharp and skilful) at half time, bring on Niall Quinn. However, it was Scarborough who took the lead 5 minutes into the second half following a mistake on the right hand side of our defence. Andy Ritchie broke clear and finished expertly. As somebody behind me said, this was just what the game needed. After all, it was only a friendly. City pressed forward with a little more urgency but still there were chances at both ends. In the 60th minute there was a scramble in the Scarborough goalmouth and Nigel Clough hooked the ball over his head and against the crossbar. It was to be his last involvement in the game as he was replaced by Michael Brown seconds later.

At around this time it became clear that the referee was on first name terms with the Scarborough goalkeeper, yelling out "Ian!" to attract his attention. The City fans behind his goal picked up on this and several chants in Ian's honour later in the game. Gio also took a slight (accidental) knock which seemed to irritate him somewhat. This seemed to spark some life into him and he started to look more like the Gio we all know and love. Thank goodness. On 70 minutes Chris Greenacre came on in place of Uwe Rösler and within a minute City were level. Michael Brown dribbled along the edge of the area and was brought down. The referee awarded City a penalty! Niall Quinn put the ball on the spot but turned round as if expecting someone else to take the spot kick. Up stepped Gio to stroke the ball low and just inside the post for a deserved equaliser.

Whilst we were celebrating Gerry Creaney was brought on to replace Nicky Summerbee. City were well on top now and looked like scoring quite a few goals. Greenacre nearly gave City the lead with a deft flick from 12 yards but it was superbly palmed away by the `keeper, leading to much applause and chants of "Ian! Ian!" from the City fans. Gerry Creaney forced another good save with a 20-yard curling effort. Clearly Creaney's wayward efforts during his warm-up at half time were just a ploy to lull Scarborough into a false sense of security. City look the lead on 81 minutes when a Lomas cross was met by Quinn at the near post. Quinn nodded the ball down into the same spot that Kinkladze had put the penalty. Two-One. It now looked like a case of "how many will we get?" but Scarborough had other ideas. Within three minutes they were level again after being awarded a penalty of their own for a foul by Symons. Ian Thompstone confidently struck the ball home, sending Immel the wrong way.

The Ian at the other end, Ian Ironside, was shortly afterwards named the Man of the Match, an award which nobody could dispute. He looks like a player who could do a useful job at a higher level than this. As for City, it's hard to pick out anyone that really stood out. Phillips did little in the second half after his encouraging first half performance. He's going to have to do some more practice on corners too. On numerous occasions he committed the cardinal sin of failing to get the ball past the first defender guarding the near post area. Gio is still far from being the player we knew from last season, though I hope and expect this to change when we start playing competitive matches again. The best performances probably came from the substitutes. Niall Quinn scored again and has really showed his worth to the side in this pre-season. If you discount the goals he's scored or set up, there's very little left. Chris Greenacre showed good touch and a good awareness of where the goals are. Still small in stature, he reminds me a little of Paul Moulden. For me though, Michael Brown was the most impressive. He played is if it really mattered how the result went, battled well and showed his skill to good effect. Michael is, I think, a player with a very bright future.

This was the game when blues travelling to the oven chip stadium were treated to hailstones, the size of footballs during the warm up all from the boot of one man.