Former Toon Star: The Day Shearer Knocked Me Out Cold In Boozy Brawl:
http://tyneandwear.sky.com/news/article/83018/former-toon-star-the-day-shearer-knocked-me-out-cold-in-boozy
Former Newcastle star Keith Gillespie has lifted the lid on the day Alan Shearer knocked him unconscious in a boozy confrontation on a busy shopping street.
The 38-year-old former winger, part of Kevin Keegan's famous "Entertainers" line-up, has revealed all about his days as a football hell-raiser in a new autobiography How Not To Be A Football Millionaire.
In it he tells how he's blown £7m on gambling, leaving him with little to show from a top-flight career that saw him play for Manchester United, Newcastle and Blackburn amongst others.
He tells of the spat with Magpies legend Shearer, which happened on a team-building jaunt to Dublin in the mid-nineties.
Gillespie said the trouble started when he began flicking beer bottle tops at his team-mates, with two of them hitting Shearer.
The winger admits he enjoyed annoying the then-England and Toon skipper and made him his target.
The row came to a head when Gillespie drunkenly knocked cutlery from a table and Shearer insisted he pick it up, which Gillespie ignored.
He writes: "Red mist descended, we had a bit of a row and for some reason I asked him if he wanted to take it outside. Madness."
They left Dublin's Cafe En Seine and walked side by side to the front door onto a street full of Sunday afternoon shoppers.
Gillespie writes: "I took a swing at Shearer but I was punch-drunk and inaccurate. He responded with a blow that sent me flying against a plant pot. I cracked my head and entered the blackout zone.
"The next thing I remember is the view from the hospital bed. There was no potential for long-term damage, so I was discharged and returned to the hotel to find that all the lads were out at a function."
He said that Shearer soon went to his room along with team-mate and friend Rob Lee.
Gillespie said: "Peace was restored before they had even come inside. We ended up laughing about it, although we knew a media storm was inevitable. Which was fair enough really.
"What else do you expect when the England captain knocks out a team-mate in broad daylight?"
Giggs??
